Juvenile – What this term can lead you to?

Recently, the word ‘Juvenile’ propped up in Indian national Media in colossal terms as our law makers kept some Bill pending in Parliament for reasons best known to them!


Country’s legislators lead the law making appear an impossibility, thus assumed standstill position and provided a stalemate situation in the Parliament: the Temple of Democracy to where the citizens who had sent them with high hopes to legislate on their behalf and not otherwise. So much so was the expectation that “We the People of India” hoped that now we can afford a better life style or improve the quality of our lives or in a nutshell the country shall progress. But in despair, all hopes drowned.


Not before Citizens of this country had to remind the legislators of their duty and not become obstruction of Justice through the social media movement, in the end, which otherwise seems to have been forgotten by Parliamentarians in obsession for their ego, desire to latch on to the power in spite of people’s verdict against them and not going beyond their own party lines and not pursuing the nationalistic and patriotic measures that they are supposedly adhere to meet the hopes of highly expectant electorate.


The one incident that turned the table and forced Parliamentarians to pass the bill: courtesy the gruesome incident of Nibhayer’s rape and murder same time around three years back in 2012 and the action of none other than the parents of Jyoti Singh the victim, known as Nirbhaya codenamed for trial, who had to leave their home and camp in India Gate, Jantar Mantar etc., in Delhi to raise the cause of their daughter’s plight and in absolute self sacrifice and for protecting the rights of the upcoming generations of India’s Daughters.


Going back a little, interestingly, here out of the six culprits booked, five were adults that are above the age of eighteen years have been handed over death sentence and the other lone convict six months short of the magical figure of eighteen at the time of commission of crime or the Juvenile, awarded three years imprisonment. Juvenile was under police custody and was about to be released on Supreme court order after undergoing three years term. Supreme court upheld earlier decision on a fresh plea on the ground of lack of law made by the legislatures, that is in a way pointing towards the law makers inability to have adequate law. This was the turning moment for legislators to wake up.


Immediately after the Nirbhaya incident there was huge uproar in all media including the social media where an innocent girl and her movie going male companion were attacked in a running bus supposed to take to their destination, instead the girl was raped by all six of the convicts and gruesome act of inserting iron rod into her vagina was carried out. Leading ultimately to her death in a Singapore hospital where the Government of the day decided to fly her out in critical condition a few days after the incident had occurred.


Thereafter, three long years have passed but our legislators could not get together in their united wisdom to act and agree to a law to punish the offenders of age less than eighteen but committing heinous crimes.


In the meanwhile a British Film maker made a documentary film on Nirbhaya episode and taken interviews of the convicts inside the Tihar Jail premises and also the counsels for the defendants or the defense lawyer. Both passed derogatory comments to make the girl’s behavior responsible for the rape and assault. The documentary named as ‘India’s Daughter’ was later on banned by the Government. India’s leading newspapers and media had started rhyming rape and it was in continuous print that Times of India had consistently had the Rape word in the headlines for some time making the news papers unsuitable for adolescents and family view. It also turned India as a rape capital of the World and country’s image was largely tarnished abroad. Many conversations we came across from tourism communities as “Is India safe to travel for Women folk?” Such was the insecurity feeling that India lost large revenues in tourism sector!


As per Indian law at the time of Nirbhaya incident, it had strong laws but was weakly implemented. Post Nirbhaya and Shakti Mills Mumbai gang rape incidents the punishment of death penalty for the repeat offenders of rape was introduced in 2013 Criminal Laws amendment bill. Although many deny affect of retributive punishment but the net result is after the death penalty for rapists were pronounced in fast track courts for both Nirbhaya and Shakti Mill case, Times of India had to retract and not put ‘Rape’ word in their headlines not as frequently as they used to for the sake of TRP etc., obviously due to lack of reported and hyped cases. This may be in a way assumed to be success of the movement by all kinds of media.


Here comes the factors where the adolescents the fragile word for Juvenile need to be handled carefully. This is the age popularly known as formative years and there has to be methods to deal with such unstable minds. It’s a matter of so much delicate probity that any misadventure by the person concerned or its guardians may lead to disaster during this time.


Juvenile mind is as fragile as glass and if it falls from grace then it would break beyond repair. Information inflow to the adolescent mind should be controlled in a manner as how food intake is controlled. As for food that we take determine partly our behavior and should be able to take and offer right food for nourishment and not for sparking any kind of incitement to the tender minds. Information feed plays a very vital role in development of the mind of the teenagers being the food for the mind and psyche and thus environmental transformation of the mind in the right direction depends much on the quality of information feed. In the present days of availability of information and content over the internet and its absorption plays a crucial role in development of the future minds of Indians. The role of mother and DNA is all the more of paramount importance being factors to determine the behavioral traits of the Children and its psyche. The Children of today who are supposed to look after and determine the future of India.


Law making for Juvenile is thus critical. In India prior to this law for Juvenile or Children or adolescents less than the age of eighteen years were to be punished with a three year imprisonment for heinous crimes duly to be awarded by Juvenile justice board and to be kept in remand homes for their transformation. Here Juveniles are not to be kept alongside hardened criminals as this would lead to more disaster as we are offering them a horribly adverse environment and not a conducive one for the betterment of the child in question.


Evolution of human beings makes the race get advanced by every day. So this cut off of eighteen years decided more than half century ago needs to be advanced as per law of the nature. Carefulness is to be exercised especially in case of crimes which are threat to the society. In other progressive countries of the World crime and nature of crime gets precedence and not age. But there are compulsions in India to adopt such so called stringent measures. There are certain mentors of leading political parties in India who speak in favour of Child criminals is also another extreme view point although condemnable, law makers have to deal with such opinions as well.


Nevertheless passage of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill 2015 put through both the houses of the Parliament is an welcome step and now Juveniles from sixteen years onwards will be treated at par with adults of over eighteen years of age in terms of commission of offence and punishment for heinous crimes. However, the ambit of ‘heinous offences’ as defined in the legislation doesn’t merely restricted encompass gruesome crimes such as rape and murder. Juveniles accused of counterfeiting, cheating, arson, kidnapping, causing grievous hurt, dacoity, burglary or committing theft in a building are all now liable to be tried as adults. Furthermore, Centre for Child and the law elsewhere in various occasions where a Juvenile can be tried as adults are such as Sati, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, Arms, Offences as per Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, in case of atrocities on Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, Terrorist and Disruptive Activities, Control of Organised Crime and Food Safety and Standards Acts, etc.


However, this is not the end; the Indian law needs to be improved further and to treat all in the same plane in case of heinous crimes irrespective of age is much needed, as now if a fifteen year six months old performs the crimes then what do we do? Do we go back to our drawing board once more?


Can we now expect a safer society? The answer is obviously “NO” as researches suggest that all depends on the character building in a country rather than retributive punishment or reformative measures, as these are actually not preventive measures but a post facto procedural action.


It is thus suggested that the curriculum in educational institutions to include subjects of character building, patriotism, psychology and special training on how to behave and lead lives, rather than restricting to pure text bookish knowledge is need of the hour.


Hence, Character building of Citizens of the country should get precedence over everything else.



#JaiHind

NATIONAL JUDICIAL APPOINTMENT COMMISSION OF INDIA: Dream or a Reality?

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Independence of Judiciary is vital for sustainable Democracy. Hence, it is of paramount importance that the Judiciary remains free from external influence and it does not face interference and or control from the other two organs of the Government, i.e. Executive and Legislature. As Democracy is well known by its expression, “For the People, Of the People & By the People.” So consequently discharge of functions by the Judiciary needs to remain free from fetters of political compulsions till our democracy and polity assumes further maturity.


Judiciary also needs to be insulated from Public pressure, Popular uprising, so that justice can be delivered without fear or favour with an Independent thought process of following due process of Law: this is undoubtedly in the interest of the Citizens and people at large.


When fundamental rights of the Citizens are violated; “We the people of India” have option to take recourse with our Judiciary & not usually seek justice from Legislatures or Executives. Hence savior of Democratic Rights of Citizens is certainly the Judiciary and not necessarily the other two organs of the Government.

Question is now how to address such a complex issue and maintain balance of power at the same time!



1.1 CURRENT SCENARIO

National Judicial Appointment Commission Act of 2014 was struck down as unconstitutional or ultra Vires to the Constitution by the Honourable Supreme Court of India in a five bench Judgment by a majority of 4:1 on 16th Oct 2015. On the other hand Collegium system was evolved out of a Judgment by nine Judges Bench. Hence, any more modification to the existing system preferably be addressed by a bigger bench & not smaller, is one thought process that needs deliberation.

National Judicial Appointment Commission (NJAC) Bill of 2014 was passed by Lok Sabha on 13th August 2014 and in a unique show of solidarity unlike recent times, Rajya Sabha passed it on the very next day on 14th August 2014. President, after due deliberations with his counsels gave accent to the Bill on 31st Dec 2014.

May be the date of passing the bill in Lok Sabha was not auspicious as many may comprehend!

Collegium system is being practiced for more than two decades since 1990s or popularly referred to as Judges selecting Judges, this have come under severe criticism in media and particularly social media mainly due to lack of transparency and non reflection of popular democratic mood prevailing in the country. There is no mention of Collegium system or any other such procedure of similar nature prescribed or described for any official appointments in the constitution of India or its successive amendments.


1.2 NJAC or National Judicial Appointment Commission

What it means: National Judicial Appointment Commission or NJAC in short was conceived to be of six member commission to appoint and transfer Judges of Supreme Court and High Court.

First member shall be the Chief Justice of Supreme Court who shall have primacy over the decisions. The other members are the two other senior most Judges of the Supreme Court, then Union Minister of Law & Justice and two more Eminent persons. Newly introduced two Eminent persons shall be nominated by the committee of Chief Justice of India, Prime Minister of India & Leader of the opposition or Leader of the largest political party in the Lok Sabha. Out of the two Eminent persons one person shall be from Scheduled caste / Scheduled Tribe / Other backward Class / Minority / Women.

Major drawbacks of NJAC where it’s members were in even numbers, thus in case of equal opinions it would be impossible to arrive at any conclusion. The number of members is small, apprehension of political interference looms large – the very cause for which Collegium was enacted by constitutional jurisprudence conferred in accordance with Article 141 of the constitution, defeats purpose.


1.3 OUR CONSTITUTION – The Supreme Law of the Land

Article 124(2) in The Constitution Of India 1949

(2) Every Judge of the Supreme Court shall be appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal after consultation with such of the Judges of the Supreme Court and of the High Courts in the States as the President may deem necessary for the purpose and shall hold office until he attains the age of sixty five years: Provided that in the case of appointment of a Judge other than the chief Justice, the chief Justice of India shall always be consulted:

(a) a Judge may, by writing under his hand addressed to the President, resign his office;
(b) a Judge may be removed rom his office in the manner provided in clause ( 4 )

Article 217(1) in The Constitution Of India 1949

(1) Every Judge of a High Court shall be appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal after consultation with the Chief Justice of India, the Governor of the State, and, in the case of appointment of a Judge other than the chief Justice, the chief Justice of the High court, and shall hold office, in the case of an additional or acting Judge, as provided in Article 224, and in any other case, until he attains the age of sixty two years Provided that

(a) a Judge may, by writing under his hand addressed to the President, resign his office;
(b) a Judge may be removed from his office by the President in the manner provided in clause ( 4 ) of Article 124 for the removal of a Judge of the Supreme Court;
(c) the office of a Judge shall be vacated by his being appointed by the President to be a Judge of the Supreme Court or by his being transferred by the President to any other High Court within the territory of India

Judge can be removed by impeachment an act of Parliament in accordance with Article 124(4)



1.4 INDEPENDENCE OF JUDICIARY – a requisite for sustainable Democracy

Judiciary should be able to exercise Judicial Powers and without any fear or favour. That the Judicial members should not have any burden of present or future prejudices like future appointment by the Government of India and post retirement assignments. Judiciary should be able to exercise administration of Justice without any political influence or Popular Public opinion or pressure or prejudices. And follow the due process of law strictly in line with legal requirements laid down. Independence of Judiciary is in the interest of the Citizens and to establish faith for administration of Justice and its system in the minds of ordinary Citizens and popularize the number of law abiding populace for peace and prosperity of any nation.



1.5 COLLEGIUM SYSTEM merits and demerits

More than two decade old system evolved out of two landmark and famous judgments known as Second Judges case and Three Judges case. Collegium system was evolved out of a Judgment by nine bench and NJAC declared unconstitutional by a 5 Judges bench. Usually any modification to the existing system preferably is addressed by a bigger bench & not otherwise, so that may be a procedural lacuna identified here.


Collegium consists of Chief Justice of India and four senior most Judges of Supreme Court besides him to make it odd number of five. So in case of split Judgments it is easier to handle. If two judges out of five give adverse report then appointment & transfer is withheld. Collegiums for High Court are Chief Justice of the High Court and two senior most Judges do due diligence and recommend for appointment as judges of the High court. The shortlisted candidates are scrutinized by a Collegium of five senior-most judges of the apex court headed by Chief Justice of India before being cleared for appointment. The same Collegium of the apex court identifies serving judges and chief justices of high courts for transfer and elevation to the Supreme Court. The entire process of selection and appointment are handled in strict confidentiality.


The collegiums system thus is opaque as all appointments & transfers are secret matters and treated with extreme caution and confidentiality. This is one of the greatest disadvantages of Collegium system in terms of transparency. Transparency need not necessarily bring credibility but of course help the cause to a certain extent. Which High court Judge will be elevated to Supreme Court is the sole discretion of the Apex court collegium. Thus power is far from decentralization.



1.6 WHY NJAC ACT 2014 Held Unconstitutional

Supreme Court struck down on the ground that it violates the basic structure of the constitution and Parliament has got no power to alter the basic structure of the Constitution as spelt out in Kesavananda Bharati Vs State of Kerala (1973) vide recital. The basic structure of the constitution was violated as three organs of the Government was supposed to be ruled under the Doctrine of Separation of powers and its maintenance thereof of autonomy of the Judiciary as all the three organs need to remain independent and free from interference and control of each other.

Montesquieu’s pristine theory of Separation of power, mutual Cooperation amongst three organs of power is indispensable though.


Yet another disadvantage of NJAC is it is a six member committee and in case of tie of the decisions how it will be handled it is not known. Hence it is one of the Chief drawbacks of the NJAC system.



1.7 COUNTER ARGUMENTS

Doctrine of separation of powers are not strictly followed and maintained in our constitution evolved by our founding fathers. As for example President and Governors are empowered to grant pardons and commute for the convicts, say for example for life and death sentence of convicts: - a judicial decision. This itself tantamount to exercise of executive control over the Judiciary and it is an unusual obstacle in the Judicial function to deliver administration of justice. No absolute power to Indian parliament as all laws enacted by the Parliament & subsequently accented by the President who works in an executive capacity is also subject to Judicial review and our Parliament is not Sovereign unlike United Kingdom House of Lords!

No provision in Democracy can be subjected to the Tyranny of the unelected over the elected and not reflect the popular mood of the people of India.

More than transparency, credibility of the Judiciary is important for people to repose trust and faith in Justice System and in the process of administration of Justice so as to produce and popularize law abiding Citizens for peace and prosperity of the nation.

Collegiums system lacks transparency and the appointment and transfers of Judges are treated with extremely high degree of confidentiality and is truly secretive, therefore opaque and works in an air tight compartment, leave aside availability of information in public domain, it is not done and out of question.

That the Collegium system doesn’t find any mention in the Constitution of India and its subsequent amendments but cannot be ruled Unconstitutional or void Ab initio at the same time as interpretation the constitutional provisions if Article 141 or elsewhere needs to be debated.



1.8 JUDICIAL APPOINTMENT IN OTHER PROGRESSIVE COUNTRIES

1.8.1 France Judges Selection

In France, the Higher Council of the Judiciary Conseil Supérieur de la Magistrature - CSM Some attributions of the CSM are related to the appointment and discipline of judges and Public prosecutors. These rules are aimed at sheltering the judiciary from the risk of partisan influences. In France, the CSM assists the President of the Republic who under the Constitution has the mission to guarantee the independence of judicial authority. The President does not sit in the Higher Council of the Judiciary when it has to take decisions on disciplinary matters. The 2 benches in the Council are the Judges and the Public prosecutors, and they are composed of 16 members. Twelve of them are elected judges and 4 are appointed jointly by the President of the Republic, the President of the National Assembly, the President of the Senate and the General Assembly of the Council of the State.

Hence here the political influence and reflecting the popular mood of the people is in existence.



1.8.2 England Judges Selection

In England, where appointments to all but the highest level in the judiciary by a body called Judicial appointment Commission or JAC. Commissioners or the members are drawn from the judiciary, the legal profession, non-legally qualified judicial office holders and the public. All are recruited and appointed through open competition with the exception of three judicial members who are selected either by the Judges' Council or the Tribunals' Council. There are fifteen Commissioners, including the Chairman.

The JAC is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Ministry of Justice. JAC was set up in 2006 in order to maintain and strengthen judicial independence by taking responsibility for selecting candidates for judicial office out of the hands of the Lord Chancellor and making the appointments process clearer and more accountable.

The Appropriate Authority can accept or reject a recommendation, or ask the Commission to reconsider it. If the Appropriate Authority rejects a recommendation or asks for reconsideration, they must provide written reasons to the JAC.

This system is more independent and out of absolute control of polity and Crown.



1.8.3 United States Judges Selection

The Selection of Supreme Court Justices and Federal Judges are all appointed by the United States President, and must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, including the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Federal Court Judges, Supreme Court justices, court of appeals judges, and district court judges etc., are also nominated by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate, as stated in the United States Constitution.

The process by which the chief justice of the Supreme Court is selected is the same as the initial selection of a judge or justice. The president nominates a person to serve as chief justice, the Senate Judiciary Committee reviews the nomination and makes a recommendation, and the Senate as a whole votes whether to accept the recommendation of the Judiciary Committee.

Here the involvement of the peoples representative i.e. The President & Senate is vital and not independent of it.



1.9 WHAT CAN BE DONE OR OPTIONS

Judicial reforms are progressing at a very slow pace in India and thus needs to hasten to keep pace with the fast changing scenario of polity, democracy and evolving society.


As a result of fall out of the NJAC act, out of many ideas one can be to increase the number of members of the commission to around fifteen or more and number should be odd and not even. The number of members of the Judicial commission or the modified Collegium to be in multiple of five and not divisible by two, in order to avoid tie in any decision making process.


All India Examination may be conducted for selection of the committee members for appointment and transfer of Judges in the model of IIT – JEE (Indian Institute of Technology – Joint Entrance Examination) or CAT for MBA Aspirants (Common admission test for Masters in Business Administration) or alike methodology. Two most successful and controversy free credible methodology is mentioned here by name as above, now equivalent similar model to be adopted with a different name. The examination may be conducted for Judiciary by Independent bodies like UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) also well known for transparency and credibility. Accordingly, for Judicial Service alone there need to be an Independent body which will work as Secretariat for the Collegium or the Commission also. It shall address recruitment of all Judges in all courts, appointment, transfers & other administrative issues involved with the judicial service. This body may also act as judicial service regulator in line with other regulatory bodies already in existence.


Appointment of Chief Justice of India: Multiple parameter system like Qualification, Experience, Service records for the last ten years, Age and other criteria shall be considered. In addition more parameters to be developed involving merit attributes, i.e. number of Judgments delivered, number of conciliatory decrees delivered, lack or availability of allegations or charges against the Judge, Competency level in measurable parameters etc. Weightage system shall define the seniority. Senior most Judge thus arrived at by systemic approach mechanism shall be recommended as Chief Justice of India by the Commission or the modified Collegium by majority votes.


Only Chief Justice of any HC and Judges of SC will qualify for Chief Justice of Supreme court of India to be appointed in consultation with the President of India by adopting the procedure as explained above. Other sub-ordinate appointments are to be ratified by the Chief Justice of India in consultation with President of India also after following due process.


President will have veto power to either accept or reject recommendations of Commission or Collegium in line with the philosophy and power to grant pardons in accordance with Article 72.

President of India shall also be empowered to consult the Cabinet committee of Judicial affairs comprising of Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues and leader of the largest opposition party in combined strength in both the houses of parliament in case of doubt and dispute. Minister of Law & Justice must be of cabinet rank. Here the Constitutionality part of the appointment and the legality of the enactment are adhered to. This will address the will of the people as President is also a person elected through Electoral College in accordance with the popular will of the people of India at any given duration of time. The Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues along with the leader of the largest opposition party representing the popular mandate is included in the decision making in situations of uncertainty. But they are to step in only in case of stalemate or logjam as a good governance initiative.


Appointment results are to be made available in the web site of Supreme Court of India. It also to be subject to RTI act so that if any Citizen wishes to know details of the procedure for appointment of any and all legal authorities deciding their fate; the same can be sought legally. This will solve the issue of transparency.


One third of the posts of the members of the committee may be reserved for women. The number of women members should not be less than one third but may be more so as not to disturb the final numbers as multiple of five and not divisible by two. Here no recommendation of any caste, creed, religion or minority has been done, because the author feel that women are only deprived class in India who being 50% of the population are unrepresented in most sphere of the society. Once Women’s position is uplifted and upgraded it shall truly represent the entire society. This is recommended as Women play a major role in making or breaking and evolving of the society silently. We need to pay heed to our major voice which is otherwise silent but expressive in the form of results in the society in delivering in the areas of literacy, growth, maturity and prosperity. All these progress parameters heavily depend on mothers and their upbringing. Here the famous quote of Swami Vivekananda prevails, “Can you better the condition of your women? Then there will be hope for your well-being. Otherwise you will remain as backward as you are now.”The reservation for women has to be gradually increased to touch the magical figure of 50% in ten to twenty years time frame.


Judges are to be subject to impeachment by act of parliament in accordance with Article 124(4) of the Constitution of India and in addition by the fifty percent of state assemblies with majority decision.


Remuneration to Judges to be suitably enhanced and post retirement benefits to be doubled or more and all members once selected and performed duty of any duration should be barred from assuming any position in the Government of India or in related establishments, post retirement. Judges retirement age may be enhanced to 67 years subject to mental and physical fitness. Judges life post retirement should be made well secured and fully paid for by the Government. This will help in removal of bias or prejudices from the Judicial system and enhance credibility.


Training Institutions for working Judges are to be modernized and upgraded to meet the International standard requirements following the most advanced democracies of the World. Judges should be allowed to publish papers in Journals and actively participate in Seminars and workshops. There needs to be free flow and exchange of ideas all across the National spectrum. Judges are also to be sent abroad in periodical manner to get themselves acquainted in the areas of development of Law across the Globe. This opportunity is currently missing in our system also it will act as motivation factor and lead to more job satisfaction, leading to healthy well informed atmosphere for dispensing justice.




2.0 CONCLUSION

The democracy if for the people and the elected representative should have some stake in all the decision making process in a healthy democracy to be successful. Its is not be called tyranny of the unelected over the elected in any system being part of true Democracy. The Democratic system must reflect the popular mood of the people at any given point of time but with caution. Hence people’s verdict and popular will cannot be entirely ignored.


While on the other hand the Government is the largest litigant in this country, can the Government be given opportunity of selecting Judges as it violates the rules of natural justice “Nemo Debet Esse Judex in Propriya Sua Causa.” No man can be judge in his own case.
Hence the dilemma, duality and ambiguity and cause of all confusions.


Therefore, Governmental control needs to be minimized without absolutely ignoring it and then given an opportunity to intervene only in case of doubt and dispute and not otherwise. So that collective wisdom of the electorate is used at the hour of need.



Thus Judicial reforms in this country is overdue and thus to be taken up in right earnest to see our democracy attaining maturity for a progressive and developed India.



#Jai Hind

What’s the fuss about Veg Vs Non-Veg?

“Would you prefer Vegetarian or Non-vegetarian for dinner today?” - “I am a vegetarian & cannot tolerate the smell of Non-Veg!” – These are some of the Dinner table conversations that we come across! Sometimes it becomes bit of an extreme event that: Vegetarian eaters refuse to dine with the rest. While approaching lunch time, the traveler keeps an eye on “Pure Vegetarian” sign!

There are many opinions we have heard that killing lives for food is sin and should be avoided! Even foods devoid of garlic & onion are consumed at times, by certain communities: so as to deter stimulation of the mind to flicker, as indicated in recent researches. Now coming to the fact of the matter, all vegetables are obtained from trees having life, now that science has established. Moreover, all vegetables contain bacteria which are life of course. Generally milk is considered as vegetarian, but it’s an animal product. Milk also contains bacteria and when converted to yoghurt (or Dahi in Hindi), has probiotics, which is considered to be good for health. Our bodies including intestines host bacteria and good bacteria are those which help in digestion are found in yogurt in particular. So what’s the difference in Veg & Non-veg for that matter? You know, human senses have got limitations, therefore, we say we haven’t seen GOD, actually, even if GOD exists, our eyes and senses are incapable of perceiving the power that most of us tend to restrict to utter belief.

Now, Vegetarian foods are those products obtained from lives by not imposing pain perceivable through human senses. Like all vegetable when they are picked from the trees, we do not see any pain being suffered by the producer. Same in case of milk, when produced by the animal, no pain is suffered. In fact Cow gives milk with pleasure, sensing it to be for its own calf; also as naturally it needs to preferably eject the daily quota produced on a daily basis, otherwise pain may occur.

On the other side; Non-vegetarian foods are those which if you need to obtain them, require human senses to experience pain. Suppose, for the meat of the goat; you need to kill it and while being killed it suffers extreme pain, whatever may be the mode of killing. If the pork meat is to be obtained – the method of killing the animal is very painful as many of us would have experienced. If eggs are taken away from the bird, it suffers pain to part with, like giving away its own offspring. In case of halal meat the death is delayed & pain does not come as a shock but comes gradually.

Foods that are obtained after inflicting apparent pain are also detrimental for consumption, because when lives are pained to death, the bodies produce toxic chemicals as a natural defense. Toxin is produced irrespective of death under shock or gradual duress. In case of shock the toxin quantity produced is more as compared to delayed death. And these toxins are not good for human consumption as they are difficult to digest. Therefore, one would experience that digestion of Non-vegetarian food takes longer time, may also produce discomforts in addition. Nevertheless, all kinds of available foods need to be consumed to maintain ecological balance, to abide by the nature’s law. Nature has also created frugivorous (consumers of fruits and seeds) in animals as well and with a very well developed Canine teeth in carnivores (meat-eaters and predators) animals to conspiciously differ mammals of two separate natural species. Hence it’s a matter of perception by the human senses that we categorise foods. When we opt for the lesser evil, we tax our digestive system less and vice versa. So choose to suit as you like! Any disagreement, Queries welcome! at shantanu_chakravarty@yahoo.com

Selection 2014

Thank GOD that the bustling cacophony and the election fever are over for now: but if one closely looks @ the contemporary Indian Democracy, it involves rather a mere selection progression deviating from a basic democratic election process. Of course it was never been the case since our independence & hence we Indians should least expect it. But then, it is interesting to know that till last year BJP was not in the reckoning and people were looking for alternatives elsewhere, but now how MODI wins voters mind & influence India has been a matter of research considering that he got only part of the year & not even a complete term. He was indeed fighting against time & innumerable contradictions that our diverse & heterogeneous India has to offer as a potential challenge. Amazingly, MODI appear to establish an intense connect with all generations especially the younger ones to the belief of many demonstrated by the response of the populace in the various media forums nevertheless. The middle class & the first time voters have been stirred up, if the increased voter turnout is of any indication. The lesson we learn from him is that by working hard with commitment & obtaining results may be a straight forward answer to this question but his run rate needs to be credited!!!. In 7 months & 10 days he has covered 300,000 kms + of travel, 8000 + of rallies and 3D rallies in over 1300 locations with 3 to 3.5 hours of sleep per day: this is beyond the comprehension of a normal Indian like me, a super human effort indeed!!! In all probability no one Indian of equal stature has got energy & intent to match his at the moment. No comparison can be drawn since the rest has so far shied away from giving statistics. Use of technology to the maximum, extensive media coverage & occupation of TV & social media space occupying almost 50% of TV media prime time, 14.1 million Facebook likes, 3.9 Million Twitter followers remarkable for any public figure in Modern India. BJP is may be the only party having an iPhone & an Android application! Results are a few days away & vindication of his stands will be established or not, is for the time to tell & hopefully it will make or break future strategies of all the major political parties in India, to decide what is best to go either for caste / communal based polity or on selecting the method of communication with the electorate or whether Indians have changed from being emotional mongers of the politicians or have become matured enough to come in terms with reality and to be more realistic in demanding pro-development, corruption free, controlled inflation, providers of work & income - as prime means of Governance. The other factor hindering the progress of the Indian Demographics is the existence of extreme sense of negativity all around especially in TV media. Surprised to find that TimesNow: the most yelling & mudslinging matches taking place day in & out there, high pitch, high decibel, minimum all round news content channel, only to amazingly find it to be mostly watched in India for prime time news. On the contrary the experience being the rest of the channels have more News Content and are much less noisy. Journalist of today tend to pick up one negative vibe from a speech of may be of one hour duration & keep harping on it. May be 95% of the content was positive but gathers no coverage on the burning issues of development, inflation, job creation but attracts attention of the negatives instead. The most convenient path of the political parties has been found to drag the campaign towards the negative issues like religion, caste & personal attacks, washing dirty linens in public. All parties seem to shy away and avoid discussion on Inflation, corruption & good governance. This has been my experience even 10 years back where I had attended a Seminar on Infrastructure development @ Park Hotel Kolkata presided by none other than Late Subhash Chakraborty, then Minister of the West Bengal Government, whose speech was wonderful for about an hour or so, full of positives concerning the infrastructure development of the state of West Bengal but he said one negative thing in his entire speech. “ West Bengal have no intention of doing things in right earnest in spite of harping on the slogan of DO IT NOW". I was amazed how the media could neglect the entire excellent speech & only project this negative statement in the next morning print. Hence, probably the tradition continues. Nevertheless, Indian Democracy has come off age from a stage where at one point of time during the proclamation of the state of internal emergency in India in the mid seventies, invoking article 352 Clause (1) of the Indian Constitution, Dr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed the then President of India on the advise of Mrs Indira Gandhi the then prime Minister of India authorized to rule India by decree. Resulting in elections being suspended, the fundamental rights of Citizens in terms of Civil Liberties curbed, censorship of the media imposed, political oppositions were arrested including Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee & Mr LK Advani among others. Several other atrocities were reported from the time to time, including a forced mass-sterilisation campaign spearheaded by Late Sanjay Gandhi, the prime minister's son. One interesting episode that happened in my life remains unforgettable till date is one afternoon when we were in the class room of our higher secondary school in Shillong, all of a sudden saw all the mothers & many fathers as well of my class mates except mine arrived at our school. It was a huge commotion at the school gate. On inquiring our Head Sir, why all the mothers are crying, I came to understand that as a part of the population control drive, a team of doctors are arriving at our school to perform sterilisation. All the mothers were therefore demanding with utter urgency and impatience that their son be returned to them immediately. Every mother was asking for their own son and I ultimately accompanied someone else’s mother. We all went home immediately following the alternative guerilla routes to our respective houses only to find that no one came till late evening and the school went on normal mode from the next week onwards, so we had enjoyed 3 to 4 hays holiday. Today’s circumstances are quite good compared to those early years of my life, we have free press, free TV media, globally free social media, even if Government intends to control cannot do the same. I could not be writing this blog had there been state of emergency like situation. Now why selection & not election is because for instance the PM candidate of the BJP is selected prior to the congressional assembly of the elected MPs & the same applies for other major political party in race as well. Congress is indirectly projecting an heir apparent for the post if returned to power, discerning loss at the first place. We Indians are clouded with high intensity negative vibes & GOD only can save us & draw us out of this. Pray to ALMIGHTY that a good result of this election should convert the future of India into a atmosphere of prosperity & development so that the quality of our lives takes an upward trend.

Pink Monkey

Melissa lives in Houston, Texas for the last couple of years and on the 37th floor Apartment she recently got into after the last excruciating breakup - is reasonably, a decent one with one bedroom and a subtle modern modular kitchen of double row tables and word cabinets, bath with an oversized tub laid, and two car parks! There is an indoor play hall at the basement. It has also got a pool and a fully equipped fitness centre down below on the ground level for the occupants to windup. Last two of these amenities popularly being in use after the office hours and at times leading late into the night after a longish hang out in the apartments. Though the fascinating part of the house to Melissa was that, where the trash chute was fitted, to her it used to be a great reliever as whatever she did not like, used to get dumped into the chute. (The awful gifts from her past relationships including.) She would then often see from her bay window that the automated garbage truck would take her odd staff away and chill her a bit in the process.
However, for Melisa it became dreadful every night she retired for the bed and many thoughts hover in her mind before she could indeed fall asleep. The lonely moments were a bit awful and unbearable at times.
The last thought that usually drifted in her mind every night while initially rolling all alone in her gorgeous bed, cast in bright white linen and the situation often led saying to her.
“What is happening to me?
Has this gotten me any more love?
Any more ‘joyous moment’ to look forward to and any more moments remain to be cherished?
In this new apartment in this city, this new country, this new planet, this new universe, can it ever make me happy?
When I sit on a park bench by myself, when I feel the sun, the breeze, will it make you happy?
Make my bed after taking a shower, will it make you happy?
And then when I dance right in front of you, May be it can make you happy. If I can give you a big fat kiss, will it make you happy?

When I just look at you, and stare at your eyes, get engrossed in your thoughts,
May be, it will make you happy.
And then in ultimate realisation, conceded with certain serious conviction said to herself,
‘You know what? None of it will make you happy!
Unless, you do one simple thing:
Change “me” for “you”
Change “you” for “me”

And you know what? When you’re happy, I’m happy.
That’s the formula:
First you and then me.
That’s the happiness is all about?
Yes or No, or it’s just the heart of being free and allowing the God gifted mind to swirl anywhere it likes without interruption and to be able to produce a positive energy for all of us to consume and become nothing less than happy, happy and happy!!!!
Happiness is not an illusion, I suppose” She thought over & over again.
The very next day, after the work, Melissa headed for the Pink Monkey club at the Franklin Street; there was high decibel music with no right guys in sight. She was however, tired of love and imagined giving herself a last chance for bliss en route affection and considering to ensure her intellectual and emotional well being.
That’s when a bright eloquent guy entered the pub and looked nowhere but at Melissa! More he came nearer; the more words flew with charming fluency. She took off her eyes away in the first place and then got back to see the man in mulberry culoured shirt with no dearth of energy and in jubilant mood ever. Melissa got hit by the ripples of Steve’s vibrant conduct. Before anything could happen their eyes met and resonance stroked.
“Hi, there, what’s up” beamed Steve and that made Melissa blissful and fly off the handle coupled with a synchronous bit in her palpable tender heart.
This time around they sat side by side on the raised bar stools facing the counter and Steve now had a fair amount of gaze at the exuberant lovely lady, presumably in her late twenties. Melissa, with pretty long black hair, with natural curls at the ends of each bunch, her face entirely gets covered up at times with the shiny filamentous bio material and thus every time she has to give the sexy head jerk to take the silky stuff away from her face, that does nothing but adjoins brightness to her smile. Her hourglass shaped body was of immense attraction to all and natural to Steve. The brilliant brown roving eyes of Melissa distracted Steve but only compounded emotional stimulation raising attraction level in the end.
Melissa broke the ice and went on praising the bar, the ambiance and the yummy cocktail that she have already had. She offered Steve one and he obliged. ‘Hi I am Steve Jonathan, what’s your name?’ ‘Oh! Yeah, I am Melissa Brown’. ‘Are you an Asian?’ Steve wanted to know. ‘Yes, I am from Philippines’ replied Melissa. ‘Where are you from? You do not look like an American either? - Rallied Mellissa, in a tennis court style. ‘Yes, you got it so right, Melissa; I am from that spiritual, pluralistic country called India.’ ‘Nice to meet you and find you at this colossal vibe of Pink Monkey, Cheers!!!’ and they both shook hands and separated only when the loud music broke for a moment.
Soon they found that they share a common religious faith. ‘What are you doing in Texas? Steve queried in an emphatic manner for Melissa to get hit like a tennis ball punch. ‘Oh! Yeah, actually I am working as an Estate agent in Texas as I have done Post Graduation in Real Estate Management from the Metropolitan State University of Minnesota”, Melissa replied so defensively, as if she has done a blunder by coming to the States. ‘What you are upto? Steve? - Volleyed back Melissa. ‘Well, I landed in this country seven years ago. First with a F1 student visa, finally got my doctorate degree from an Institute under the Virginia State University. Now I am working for a Multinational organisation and eventually got my H1B work visa last year’, concluded Steve with huge apprehension of its acceptability to Melissa. She however, listened to Steve with great attention and involvement.
Right in the middle of discussion Melissa’s mobile phone rang. ‘Excuse me Steve’ she said and headed out of the bar. Melissa was talking for pretty long time and Steve was not sure enough whether she’s gone or going to come back. Steve was a sort of in waiting mood and in huge dilemma, unconsciously though. ‘God knows what she could be discussing!’ Steve said to himself.
There was an unusual snowfall outside and Melissa returned back to her stool shivering!!! Like a shaker in a grinder jar and said, ‘You know, I really adored the snow fall outside, which is very bizarre for Houston is not it? Nevertheless, Steve, it is so enchanting to believe that I can see real snow and feel the aura attached to it.’ Melissa said. To Steve, however, it brought the memories of his first winter in the States. ‘You know, Melissa, when I experienced my first winter in America, felt like me all the time in the fridge and but was hardly sick due to snow fall and never caught cold or flu or anything for that matter. Sometimes, thus I wondered, that is why things stay so fresh in the fridges in our country!’ uttered Steve biting his tongue and smiling mischievously. Melissa laughed as loudly as she could at this gig. Melissa was deprived of laugh for a pretty long time and today, believe me, this has indeed elated her mood and she appears to be a little bit happy now.
“Tell you what, Steve, in my country there is hardly any snow in sight” said Melissa. ‘And yeah, you know I first discovered Stick & Puck game out here’ said Steve with utter amazement. ‘Oh! What is that Stick & Puck? Looks like a sexy game’ said Melissa. ‘Oh yeah in fact I grew up with that game in this country’, informed Steve. This made the sports freak Melissa more inquisitive and asked, ‘Tell me Steve what is that game is all about, can I play that one?
‘Why not’ said Steve and continued, ‘You know, this used to be a very popular game in our campus, it is played on the ice table field, sort of an ice hockey but the difference is the stick is much wider & flatter at the bottom unlike a hockey stick and the ball is a puck.’ ‘What Puck? - Asked Melissa, this time around with outmost enthusiasm. ‘Yeah, the puck is the ball which is made of rubber, black in colour, about 3 inches in diameter and about one inch thick flat like a carom striker and of course there are goals as well and more number of times you put the puck in the oppositions net, you win.’
Melissa was deeply engrossed in Steve’s conversation and imagined to herself like playing with Steve, some game which will burn her out. She asked Steve, ‘Any games in your apartment?’ ‘Nothing, in mine, what about yours?’ replied Steve. ‘You know Steve there is only badminton & table tennis’, informed Melissa. ‘Well we can try at Table tennis’, Steve expressed his preference.
Immediately, both of them got up from the bar on impulse, Melissa settled the bill and headed for her apartment. It was about 1:00 am in the morning, but then Steve & Melissa had to stand second in the queue to get their hand on the table tennis rackets.
After a bit of awful waiting, the duo relished their hands at the table and Steve spun the ball extremely well, one after another. Melissa also gave good volleys and back hand returns. In the warm up & practice sessions, no one knew for certain who can be the winner. But when the game started it appeared that both Steve & Melissa are fixing the match and each wanted the other to win!!! Steve wanted to give in and Melissa also started to play too softly and finally they could not resist but hug each other & Steve had to say, ‘Let’s be competitive’. Now Melissa literally pulled up her socks, put full effort and blasted smashes after smashes and thrashed Steve, who lost games almost like a meek spectator to her swift smashes and elegant placements. Steve tried hard and harder but in the end gave away. Steve was fully drenched in sweat and finally could not resist but asked ‘Melissa, can I come to your place and use the wash room?’ - Under a compelling situation may be, Melissa assumed.
The night was not to pass off without any emotional rousing and whenever Melissa placed her head round about the central region of Steve during the course of their intimate amalgamation, he had to desperately try to incessantly caress her hair and remove them from the way of getting a gleaming view of Melissa’s face fully immersed in emotions of deep love.
After a while they both sat on the balcony and saw the night sky of Houston staring at them with some unsaid words.
‘Do you have a girlfriend?’ asked Melissa with great deal of inquisitiveness. ‘At the moment I am single’, replied Steve, to the utter relief of Melissa.
‘I had a few remorseful relationships in the past and have not yet given up, do resiliently believe, things can still work out and I am looking forward to a happy one in the end. Have strong faith in God, and I believe God is not so unkind to me and shall shower me with all the blessings for me to survive in this wonderful earth with peace and happiness - one day’ said Melissa emotively.
‘You had physical relationship as well with all of them in the past?’ queried again Steve. To which Melissa nodded head instantly and said, ‘Yes, I did’ and then continued without any interruption, ‘what about you Steve?’
‘The last meaningful relationship I had was with an Indian girl - about a year ago and she gave up citing that I am too impatient and restless for her to put up’ said Steve.
‘Steve, I believe you would mind to accept someone who is extra sentimental because I am the one of that sort but of simplistic nature at the same time’ said Melissa. ‘Oh! No, not at all, I indeed enjoy simplicity and adore and respect the sentiments, but whatever you are and what you are, if I can accept you, they way you are without any expectation of changing the other, then I believe things can work out’ reaffirmed Steve. This exactly designated Melissa’s own personal realisation, lessons from her life’s experiences and firm point of view of the moment. And Melissa said, ‘Yes, let’s take it forward and see how it goes.’ ‘Yeah, yep, vowed’ Steve.
Today, Steve and Melissa are more than just friends. It has been seven months that they are staying together and sharing an apartment at the high end Galveston area, bought year before the last by Melissa. Steve bumped in at the Apartment just after two weeks of having met Melissa at the ‘Pink Monkey Pub’ - the night club in the up market Franklin Street, which in turn have become one of their favourite destinations, more so to cherish the nostalgia of having first met there.
It took few more weeks for them to settle down into the Apartment though and routines started to get off in a harmonious style fairly quickly. Steve would often be late from work and seek to help Melissa less at the Kitchen. The fun loving couple was enjoying their moments every day and there were huge drink sessions with Club Soda (carbonated water) occupying the centre stage of the bouts. Steve liked Whisky as a regular drink, as it was far too easy to afford and invariably it used to be infused with full soda for dilution and no water but huge chunk of ice used to go in. Melissa on the other hand had tried her brand of preferred things, neatly controlled, like Red Wines and the platter included all kind of meat stuff like, Sausages of beef, pork and lots of boiled vegetables. Steve was a connoisseur of non vegetable items especially meat and used to get easily delighted by the dishes like Partridges, Rissoles, Capons, lampreys with cold sage etc., and never ending.
Melissa would offer to kiss Steve once they are through with the round one of the indulgence and Steve would imagine and feel the lips of Melissa as extra soft and so adorably sweet, sour, salty and imagined to be of all the exquisite tastes available in this divine earth.
One day, Melissa found Steve’s car ahead of her in the very street that brings to their home. She followed his car only to be guided back to home again. ‘Good evening, Honey’ said Melissa and Steve gave her an intimate hug with involvement of abundant emotion.
How the year passed by, in the midst of eventual busy days of work and home, they could not realize and the Christmas is just about round the corner. They both stopped though at the notice board of the Apartment Manager (on their way to the elevator) and it thus notified,

‘Dear Residents,
As you all are aware that we have a pet policy with breed & weight restrictions. We would allow each apartment owner to have a maximum of one male pet with weight not exceeding 100 lbs. No breeding is allowed in case you opt to have a female pet.
We, however, welcome qualified service animals of dog family like Cocker Spanial, Alcatian, Staghound, Antebellum Bulldog, American shepherd etc., etc., or any other suitable breed, subject to these pets being left at our disposition during the hours of your absence from the apartment. The continuous hours of absence can be of maximum 24 hours, beyond which we shall not assume any responsibility.
Further, we have pleasure in informing you that today we have installed the pre-wired with PostSmart internet technology and switches can be available at your convenient location on request.
Best wishes,
Manager
Both Melissa and Steve liked pets and loved to have owned one and Melissa uttered in haste, ‘Steve, should we have a pet of our own, I love dogs but’, Steve was a bit too tired to respond and they headed for the room. As usual like any other day they had drinks and dinner and slept and not in reverse order as it happens occasionally.
Steve for one for the last few weeks was feeling a pain in his lower abdomen and this morning after defecation found something frightening. First thing he confided in Melissa, ‘Take a look, this strange colour on my toilet paper’ Melissa aghast, ‘Oh! My God! That’s blood Steve, how did it happen? Where did you go?’ ‘Nowhere’ said Steve. ‘You must go to the Doctor, come we shall visit someone in the evening’, Melissa insisted. Steve however, neglected the situation for one full week, till the situation became exponentially alarming to both.
On a Saturday the next, Melissa fixed up an appointment with Dr SD Ross a General and Public health preventive medicine doctor at the San Jacinto Methodist Hospital Corporation, Houston. They turned up at the doctor’s chamber at 10 AM in the morning. ‘The general plan is that, after we are finished with the Dr. Ross, we will have our lunch at the China Town’ said Steve with anticipation. ‘I am delighted’ replied Melissa.
The call came from the doctor in five minutes and he patiently heard about Steve’s complaints and asked about his lifestyle and then hurriedly scribbled illegibly on the prescription after measuring his weight and blood pressure in the meanwhile,

Rx
Mr. Steve Jonathan, Age 27, Asian
- Incessant Pain in the lower abdomen
- Bleeding per rectum for last 8 days
- Hyper acidity & flatulence
- Non diabetic & normotensive
- BP 110 / 70 mm of Hg
- Pulse 80 bpm
- Weight 154 lbs
- Height 5 feet 8 inches BMI 23.38
- Heart – no gallop, no murmur
- Abdomen soft, colon tender
- Chest NAD
- Clinically NAD

Advice: HOSPITALISATION
Investigation: Colonoscopy, Renal profile, complete haemogram, Stool for RE & OBT,
Refer to Dr Sandy Roger - Colon & Rectal Surgeon
And signed it off! SD Ross
Steve & Melissa came out of the room. Steve was escorted by a nurse and made to arrive at the Admission counter.
‘What is this, Steve, admitted straightway? What kind of a Doctor is he? Did not even ask me whether we have any other option, I am becoming dumb, my legs are not working’, said Melissa. But what she could not say was she smelled something serious in the whole episode and became gravely concerned about Steve’s welfare. ‘Don’t you worry honey; let’s see what is there in store for us’, assured Steve. ‘God bless you’, said Mellissa after taking a deep breath.
The Customer service agent at the Admission counter noted down Steve’s mobile no and said ‘Sir, you are in queue and have to wait for admission.’ ‘Yeah, that’s fine that suits me, can I come tomorrow for admission, I am not prepared for it, got a few urgent issues to sort out’ replied Steve, ‘We have to take the permission of Dr. Ross before you leave, so please hold on Mr. Jonathan’ said the customer service agent and picked up the phone at the same time. Spoke something with the Dr. Ross and God knows what transpired, Customer service agent hang up the phone and informed Steve that he can go home for now and come back tomorrow in the morning.
Steve said, ‘look gentleman I have got this AIG medical insurance, here is my cashless card’. The gentleman at the other end replied, ‘no issue we shall scan this card now and tomorrow present these documents at the insurance help desk.’
The entire night of Steve and Melissa passed in agony and distress.
The next day at about 9 am in the morning, they arrived at the Admission counter yet again, only to be informed by the staff that ‘there is no bed vacant at the moment and Steve need to wait further’. Melissa got agitated by this and wanted to know what needs to be done and rushed off to Dr. Ross. But the Doctor was not in and he is due to arrive from the morning hospital’s patient round at about 10 am. So ‘wait, wait Melissa, cool off, chill babe chill’ Melissa said to herself.
Before Dr. Ross could take an entry and try to settle down in his Outpatient Chamber, Melissa gate crushed and intervened by capturing the full attention of Doctor and asked, ‘Dr Ross, your patient is waiting for Admission and the people out here seems not much concerned about it and refusing to admit Steve on the pre-text non availability of bed. May we seek your intervention in the matter please’ Dr. Ross equally agitated as Melissa called up the Operations Manager of the Hospital and within minutes Mr. Davidson arrived.
‘Yes, Ladies & Gentleman, may I help you’ – I am Davidson here – the operations manager of the hospital. Melissa took extra initiative to explain the situation and Mr. Davidson appeared to be helpful and offered Steve & Melissa to seat in his chamber in the next corridor and said, ‘let me review the situation at the moment and let me see what can I do for you’
Melissa impatient to the core said, ‘Steve, you be here and let me take a re-look at the admissions counter’. In the meanwhile a lady supposedly in charge of admissions also arrived alongside Melissa at the same place. And God forbid, she started to talk in high pitch tune with the customer service executives, ‘How can you ask a patient to be in the morning without checking bed availability, don’t you know, how difficult it is for a patient to be only waiting at the hall for long hours. You could have told the patient to wait at home instead. The patient could have come after getting a call from you. You people are just useless and no good. I have no idea of how long you all are going to take, to learn these small and simple things.’ Moment she saw Melissa; she increased her volume and repeated the same thing. Melissa heard the story but realized in the end that it was more of an intentional dramatics rather than demonstration of a sincere intention.
Steve patiently waited right in front of Mr. Davidson, who made many calls at various departments like the patient discharge, insurance desk etc., hang up his phone and told in gentle disposition, ‘Dear Patient, there is a huge shortage of bed and a bit of crisis on this very day, we are apologetic and advise you first get into the day care centre and then we shall make arrangements to shift you over to a General bed first and then to your desired private ward. The reason being, the private male ward in not getting vacant first, vacancy is arising in female ward though. Your treatment will start the moment you are on the day care centre bed. Please do not worry; we are here to take care of you.’
‘What a fu**ing luck’, reacted Melissa when she heard the circumstances from Steve.
Steve & Melissa waited for another half an hour and could not see any light at the end of the tunnel. ‘Let us go to the shopping Mall instead, in the next building, and wait for their call’ Steve suggested. Melissa reluctantly agreed and they went around there window shopping for a while and had lunch at the food court.
At around 2 pm – an announcement was made at the waiting hall of the outpatient department; “Mr. Steve patient of Dr Ross, please report to the Admission counter.” At the same time Melissa got a call from Admissions counter informing her, the same.
Steve & Melissa went and they were asked to sign a host of undertakings and paid the initial deposit of $1000 and got the admission card etc. They were inducted with notes of caution that, ‘Gentleman while being admitted at this hospital you cannot have any valuable with you like especially Gold ornaments etc, we shall provide you the dress and leave all your garments including under garments with your near & dear one and there should not be any kind of even thread on your body. We shall provide you with sterilized towels and tooth brushes, there will be a telephone by your bed side, but then all external calls are chargeable.’
A Nurse came and took them to the next building on the fourth floor where the day care centre was located.
Steve was allotted a bed, his identification tag was tied to his hand and it read, ‘Steve Jonathan’ written in indelible ink and the band was made of a material which is water & heat proof. ‘Am I a prisoner, Melissa’, said Steve. Melissa said, ‘No no you are not, hold your patience, how funny this band is not it?’ The patient file was handed over to the day care staff in the meanwhile.
The day care ward was out of the ordinary; the bed was fully automatic with a remote control. Steve noticed that the bed can be configured in many ways like half of the bed in head side can be adjusted to raise to maximum 80 degrees from horizontal , the whole bed can be raised or lowered in its elevation, and side railings can be raised or collapsed as per requirement. The bed was fitted with four 360 degree swivel wheels with brakes for easy & safe patient transfer. The bed has got a bumpy mattress and pillows and covered with white linen of extraordinary quality. The room is fitted with oxygen taps with measuring devices. There is a unit to monitor heart beat & pulse, a side table with lockable drawers to keep patient’s belongings. There is a Television in the room with free channels to watch for. And the overall the ambience gave an impression of nothing less than a five star hotel. That itself made Steve a bit more comfortable.
Nurse came to Steve and measured his blood pressure & temperature and wrote in the medical note “patient stable”, thereafter the one lady Doctor followed and she asked, ‘Yes Mr. Steve J, how are you doing? I have come here for initial screening, now please tell me,
- What kind of bleeding have you experienced, fresh blood or slightly blackish?
- Steve answered, ‘looks like fresh blood only with the stool,
- ‘What is the kind of food you like most?’, said the doctor
- ‘I like spicy food’, answered Steve
- Doctor said, ‘Do you experience any kind of difficulty in passing stool in the morning?’
- Steve nodded his head and said, ‘at times’
- Doctor sought reaffirmation, ‘Do you have any interaction or allergy with any particular drug?
- Steve this time sounded negative.
Doctor went away and wrote a whole lot of notes on the file.
Melissa went out after this episode leaving Steve all alone and headed for home to pass off yet another dreadful night. While going out she saw the San Jacinto Methodist Hospital which is a 500,000 sq ft hospital in central Houston with around 200 beds, 20 departments, 100 Doctors and 15 operation theatres. The daily intake and discharge turnover is about 50 patients. This information of course Melissa received after she went to see Mr. Davidson – the Operations Manager, to thank him for all the help he rendered.
It was 9 pm but there was no sign of shifting Steve to the ward and he himself got up to find out ‘what’s happening to my transfer to the ward?’ There was chaos as the shift changed. The Nurse of the ward on duty reported that she cannot find the patient’s file.
The chaos persisted, many phone calls made to the emergency, ward secretary’s office and ultimately one ambulance came and Steve was asked to sit on a wheel chair. Steve found it very weird as he found that only the other day I was OK and was able to walk on my own, why do I need a wheel chair now? Though, the Nurse on duty insisted that Steve sits on the wheel chair and then he was transferred to the ambulance & made to lie down. This time Steve became literally sick in his mind and thought, ‘Yes I am sick and might need an urgent medical intervention.’
Steve was then transferred to the General ward & allotted a bed, he saw a host of patients, many of them serious in nature, everyone in the ward, gloomy and silent. Many patients groaning, some are reeling in pain, calling for the help from the staff on duty, mainly Sisters, every now and then. Some are being looked after by an extra attendant.
Steve became sick further on observing the situation.
One older patient who was not behaving as his self had a drug interaction was being visited by his son and grand children. The poor man was not able to control any of his nature’s call and the attendant had a tough time managing his bio-secretionary waste. By the side of Steve’s bed, there was another young teenage patient, who had high fever probably attacked with dengue and is in the hospital for the past four days and was under high dose of antibiotics. His mother constantly stood by his bed during the visiting hours. The kid was getting restless to get out of the hospital.
Dinner was served and Steve ate it away fairly quickly and then was asked to change his dress. The hospital attire was nothing but a payjama and a gown of greenish coloured checks, that’s all. He was not allowed to wear anything else!
Dr. Ross arrived and he felt the pulse and put stethoscope all over Steve and dictated to his assistant house doctor.
- IV Ciphran – 2g / 1000 ml in 8 hours.
- IV Pause – 200 ml – in 1 hour
- Advise – Bleeding time, HIV, Hepatitis B and went away to attend the next patient in the ward.
The Nurse on duty came & asked Steve, ‘Gentleman please give me your hand’, Steve questioned, ‘Why’ with a sign of irritation in his face.
‘I have to make a channel in your hand for administration of IV (Intra Venous) fluids’ said the nurse. Steve shut his eyes and four way channel was installed in his left hand vein opposite to his palm. The fluids were connected and drip started to move in into his body from a hanger rod attached to the bed.
Steve could not sleep due to the anxiety of the channel being dislocated, but slept unconsciously though in the early morning.
Melissa arrived to see Steve, to primarily find out how is he doing?
Steve smiled uncontrollably and said, ‘Hi Honey, nice to see you here again, how was your last night?’
‘Oh! Horrible can’t explain you in words’ replied Melissa.
The situation appeared more horrible to Melissa as she saw those IV fluid transfer arrangements made for Steve, but tried to control herself and asked,
‘How do you find the place Steve?
’Hey, Melissa, you see my gown, one waist lace is missing.’
‘OK, ok do not worry about it’, Melissa reassured Steve.
‘You know Melissa, my spectacle is just not right’
‘Why, what happened’ said Melissa and took the glass way from Steve. ‘I don’t find anything wrong with this one, what’s your take, Steve?’
‘Take a closer look at this one, you will find the issue’, argued Steve. ‘I still cannot find anything wrong with this, Steve, what happened to you, chill babe’
Steve this time showed a tiny little gap between the glass frame and the glass for both the right & left eye in the lower outer corners to Melissa.
‘Great, Steve, amazing, you give so much attention to detail, that is why I call you are a perfectionist, and otherwise it is impossible that these details will miss your sight.’
‘Well, I am not a perfectionist’ Steve vehemently denied.’
And continued, ‘just because I am a perfectionist I need not suffer, and I fully understand I should not look for much perfection in everything that I see and desire, as more perfection I look for, more pain I will inflict upon myself, I am ready to compromise and accept as the things are.”
Deep inside though Melissa realised that, ‘Steve is perfectionist to the core in practice but look at him, the guy is intelligent enough to realise his shortcomings but then consciously or unconsciously though he cannot come out of his perfectionist shell.’
‘Steve, perfectionist attitude is good, not bad and I must admit is a great quality to possess, but make it work to your advantage and not otherwise’, sighed Melissa to which Steve nodded his head.
Steve was referred to Dr. Sandy Rogers – Rectal & Colon surgeon by Dr. Ross previously and there was a call from the Surgeon and Steve was taken to the doctor’s chamber for internal examination. Dr. Rogers performed a proctoscopy, which is nothing but a simple expandable machine inserted into the rectum to facilitate a better view of the rectal walls by enlarging the anus diameter. In the end Dr. Rogers said, ‘We shall wait for the colonoscopy results and then take a decision.’
Dr. Ross is one of the most brilliant Doctors Melissa have ever seen. ‘You know Steve, he has got an extraordinary memory and remembers almost everything, moment I entered his chamber, he does not ask me who am I, instantly recognizes me, the last night when I called him up, I did not had to give any intro of myself and he went on talking about you straightway. He has referred you to Dr. Rogers, in case any surgical intervention is required and you know what, Steve, he does not refer to anyone other than Dr. Rogers, in spite of there being dozens of other surgeons available’ Melissa continued.
‘I was chatting with the hospital staff, while waiting for Dr. Ross the last time I came here; understand that Dr. Ross is a colossal philanthropist and he treats all the hospital staff during the Christmas and gives each a festival gift. What a gesture! God bless him. He is so devoted to his medical profession that he spends 14 to 16 continuous hours at the hospital and offers to attend any kind of emergency all 24 hours. The dedication of this kind is rare in sight these days, isn’t Steve? – Melissa not stopping her praise & expressed tremendous confidence on Dr. Ross. Melissa wondered though how is that Dr. Ross, do not fall sick, and believed that nobody else other that the God himself resides in Dr. Ross, otherwise this is not practically possible for most human beings to endure. He genuinely loves his profession and must be he enjoys every time he sees a patient.’ Melissa tacitly confided to Steve. This in fact made Steve overwhelmed and a lot relaxed and he said, ’Yes Melissa, right you are, I am amazed too, you have brought me to the right place and I feel safe at this right hand.’
In the meanwhile, Nurse arrived and gave three glasses of liquids and advised Steve to have them gradually over a period of an hour or so. ‘You would then get the pressure of going to the pot’ she informed. A junior doctor from the Gastroenterology department arrived near the bed of Steve and took his written concurrence to perform a Colonoscopy procedure as advised by Dr. Ross.
Melissa stood by the bed of Steve in agony of what’s going to happen to Steve and what procedures are to be performed? What could be the findings, she became restless by the every minute that passed by.
Soon Steve started to feel pressure and was going to the pot back & forth, several times. Nurse advised Melissa that, ‘please let us know when the patient will not feel motion anymore.’ After about two hours or so the things settled, and Steve who is without any food since morning tends to sleep over.
Melissa saw a trolley arriving with a white cloth cover and that the Nurse carrying the trolley sounded the name of Steve.
Steve was detached of the IV fluid supply & as transferred to the trolley. Melissa asked, ‘what next’, to which Nurse replied that the patient is being taken to the Gastroenterology department to perform colonoscopy.
Steve though enjoyed the moment and felt, ‘all these days I used to ran after the patients and Doctors for others and look at me today - I am the King, I am the patient, there is Melissa to take care of me all the time.’ Steve comfortably lay on the trolley covered with a white bed sheet and the trolley was moving fast from the ward to the corridor and then to the elevator and to Steve, only the changing ceilings were in sight.
Steve was taken to the 1st floor of the hospital and it was a chiller, very cold. One Male nurse appeared and asked his name. Steve was then shifted to another room, housed with various apparatus & instruments. It had a centralised computerised monitor. Many long pipes etc. and a cute compressor machine for air supply, which was making hissing sound intermittently. Steve, while being laid on the trolley was observant and saw quite a few of the staff & nurses making him ready for the procedure. One such nurse put anesthesia pipes into his nose. To his utter surprise he found many of the staff are Indian and appeared belonging to Kerala (Down extreme southern part of India) and were speaking Malayali. (Local language of Kerala) Before they could apply the anesthesia & before calling the Doctor, another staff on duty now asked, ‘What’s your name?’
Steve was a bit surprised and could not comprehend as to why the same ‘name’ question is being asked at various points.
‘Kaanan Nallya Bhagiyendu’ (the guy looks handsome) uttered one nurse. ‘Yeah, yah, Nallya vellayanu, (looks very fair), uttered the other. The nurses had no idea; whatsoever that Steve can faintly understand Malayalam. Steve was actually looking fair due to low hemoglobin count in his blood and due to anemia, according to the Dr. Ross’s earlier disclosure to Melissa.
The two nurses were talking in sequential order one after the other,
- Nee avane kalyanam kazhikkumo? (Would you like to marry him)
- Nallya Kaasukarananennu thonunnu (Very rich man it appears)
- Orupadu kashtappedum, ayalkku adhu ariyilla (He does not know how much painful it will be - the procedure)
- Anesthasia ulladhu kondu rakshappettu, allenkil ayal nilevilichu kaanum (God bless, we have anesthesia – otherwise we would see him shout, what pain, what pain etc.)
Now, the anesthetist and the doctor arrived and strikes conversation with Steve. Now please tell me what’s your name? ‘My name is Steve.’
‘Actually, Steve, we are asking your name just to re-confirm that we are treating the right person, this is the system check. We do not treat patient by the bed number due to obvious reasons you know’, concluded the anesthetist and injected some violet coloured fluid through his channel. Steve said ‘I am not getting unconscious and raised his hand’, ‘You will, my dear’ replied the doctor and the very next moment Steve woke up and found himself on the corridor.
Steve this time was shouting at the top of his voice and saw Melissa peeping through the door leafs from the passage at the end of the corridor. Suddenly, Steve saw the Nurse who was talking about him during the procedure and called her, ‘Sugamthannalle?’ – (are you OK) – the nurse almost fell on the floor and uncontrollably laughed by covering her face with both palms. She was called again by Steve but then this time she blushed and her ears became pinkish.
‘How come, you know Malayalam? Kshamikkuka (Sorry), I did not know’ - Nurse apologetically stared at Steve’s face.
Steve replied, ‘Relax, you have not done anything wrong’ and the conversation continued and pleasantries exchanged. Steve though was now in a great mood and remembered that he has been given sedatives for the full anesthesia. Steve became extra enthusiastic and was talking a bit more than required to everyone whoever passed by. Melissa greeted Steve on the way of getting back to the ward.
In the meanwhile, Melissa organised and changed Steve’s bed to private ward. Steve was rolled back to his bed, this time there are only two patients in one room. Steve now sat down on his bed and said to his co-patient, ‘Hello, dear I am Steve, what’s your name? The guy at the other end co-incidentally was not a very serious patient and he laughed at Steve and answered, ‘Yeah Good evening Gentleman, I am Robert Hesseny’. But Robert found Steve irrationally exuberant and was smiling & laughing a bit more than required. This also did not evade the notice of Melissa and she understood that the full anesthesia has done the trick on Steve and realised why people take on to drugs and sedatives.
‘Steve, could you feel anything that a five metre long pipe with a camera in the front was inserted through your rectum for colonoscopy?’ said Melissa. ‘No, nothing of that sort ever happened to me’, replied Steve.
Steve was advised by the Matron of the ward to have his dinner early and after that he will not be allowed to eat anything till he is planned to be operated in the late afternoon tomorrow under spinal anesthesia.
In the evening Dr. Rogers came to inform Steve that the medical board has decided to perform an operation as growths at the two places have been detected in the intestine and there is an ulcer in the ileo-cecal valve, which is partly deformed also. Dr. Rogers also very impressive, with lanky figure but extremely bright eye and looked a confirmed extra brilliant persona. Dr. Rogers assured Steve that nothing to worry and things shall be OK, only it is a matter of time and advised Steve to hold on to the patience.
Melissa also equally impressed by Dr. Rogers by just listening to the ever assuring body language. By sheer looking at him Melissa gained confidence and thought, ‘Well, Steve, we are at the right hands.’ Reconfirmed Melissa and immediately tried to find out on Goggle what is that eleo-cecal valve and saw that it is the valve that joins the large & small intestine in the stomach.
On disclosure of the colonoscopy report, a junior lady Gastroenterologist visited Steve. Melissa too eager to know what lies next and asked, ‘Doctor, what happens if this odd valve in the stomach gets deformed etc., as shown in the report? The lady doctor told, ‘Yeah, it can happen due to various reasons, may be due to an infection, as the place is bacteria prone and bacteria galore and due to this problem hemoglobin count may go down. In any case the doctor has ordered for biopsy and if there is no malignancy (Cancerous growth), then with the colonoscopy tool the deformed valve can be repaired. We shall have to wait for the histopathology report of the sample extract taken during colonoscopy.’
It was evening about 6 pm and the Dietician showed up at the bed side of the other patient Robert Hesseny. Dietician seemed to be a smart lady, with a white skirt and jacket and pink top; she held a thick folder on her lap. Always in smiling disposition she was asking about the patient’s preference of the diet. Dietician was taking extra little care in detailing the food menu for Robert.
Steve was getting envious, as to ‘why is she not asking me, as well? ‘Are they not going to serve me any food and keep me on IV fluid instead?’ Steve murmured within himself.
‘Hello, gentleman’ the dietician now turned towards Steve, ‘the doctor has advised that you can have dinner tonight, that’s it. Thereafter, no intakes for you till you are out of the operation theatre tomorrow. Now please tell me what your choice is?’
Steve requested, ‘Can I have rice, a portion of fish curry, some salads, yogurt may be’
‘Hang on, Sir, going by your reports, I feel, it is not right for you to have yogurt in dinner; you have also been advised to have non spicy, soft diet. I shall give you lentil instead and may be chicken stew.’ – sounded the dietician.
‘Ok’, said Steve.
‘Now, what about your breakfast menu, what is your habit?’ said the Dietician. Steve got frightened by the word ‘habit’ and said, ‘Oh, yeah, I like fruit juice, fruits, bread, hot eggs, porridge, oats or like’, Steve wanted to play safe.
‘Well today, I will get you Orange juice, whole grain bread toast with butter or cheese or mayonnaise – any one of the three at a time or oven fresh Croissants, baked egg with leek / hot egg and banana. Don’t take milk and milk products for now and thus cereals are out of your menu for the moment, no tea or coffee for few days. But you can have any other fruit of your choice.’ - Dietician said.
Steve though wondered why no tea & coffee, and could not suppress his inquisitiveness and asked, ‘what about tea or coffee, why is that out of my menu?’
‘Sir, you have low hemoglobin count and thus you require iron input in your diet. But tea & coffee if taken within one hour of food intake either way, before or after, bind the iron with itself and do not help proper absorption in your body. The reason being, Coffee contains polyphenols and tea contains tannins, both of which render any iron found in food unusable and thus hinder absorption.’ Explained the Dietician, gleefully and Steve was impressed. Melissa captivated by the knowledge of the Pro, nodded her head smilingly & felt being enriched in dietary.
‘Anything else may I assist you with’ asked the Dietician, ‘no thank you so much’, said Melissa on behalf of Steve, well before Steve could actually come in terms with the reality by being out of his imaginative world.
‘Bye, Good Night’ said the Dietician and speed way down the corridor.
Melissa constantly by the side of Steve passed quiet moments though.
Dr. Ross arrived with Dr. Rogers and said, ‘Well, Steve, do you intend to wait for the histopathology report on the sample taken out of the ulcer in the eleo-cecal valve? This may take about 3 more days and so will also delay the today’s programme of performing surgical intervention on you. We have found that the growth in the intestine and can be operated now and the same samples will go for Histopathology as well. Please think about it and take a call within the next couple of hours and inform Dr. Rogers. Accordingly, we shall confirm the Operation theatre (OT)’ and the doctors went away.
Steve & Melissa set in for consultations ‘as what to do’ and were in quandary, more so, as neither of them had informed any one in their family so far about their relationship. This deprived them of instant family support.
Melissa went down stairs and prayed at the prayer room for some time & then wished to head for the nearest church and found on Goggle Maps in her BlackBerry smart phone that Almeda Plaza Baptist Church is the nearest one, to which she walked down (about 3 miles). Melissa lit candles there and prayed for some time and then asked herself, ‘What to do?’
Melissa day dreamed of Steve being hale & hearty and getting married to Steve in a grand imaginative Catholic church in Philippines. All the while, she went on asking herself repeatedly but, ‘What needs to be done now?’ Her head said ‘wait for the cancer test report (Malignant cell report of the histopathology lab)’ – this being logical as the line of treatment would differ in case of cancerous & non cancerous growth.
While her heart said, ‘Go ahead and get the operation done if the Doctor has no objection’. In way she felt that doctors are professionals and it is more desirable that they decide instead of ‘leaving the decision on laymen like me & Steve.’
Melissa came back to the bed side of Steve and confided, ‘Tell you what, my mind speaking, get the operation done, don’t wait for the histopathology report and if something is found later on, then we shall handle it.’
Mood of frustration had set in Steve, but looking at what Melissa said, Steve agreed instinctively to Melissa’s mind.
This time Steve himself picked up the phone and dialed Dr. Rogers. The other end of the phone replied, ‘Hello, Dr Rogers’. Steve said, ‘Doctor, Steve here, your patient, we consent to get the surgery done today afternoon, without having to wait for the malignancy report of the eleo-cecal valve, provided you also agree.’
‘That’s not an issue’, said the Doctor, ‘Get yourself ready for the surgery.’
Steve was on IV fluids since the dinner yesterday and he was informed by the nurses that IV fluid administration will continue and about 4:20 pm he will be taken to the Operation theatre. Steve, however, lost his complete appetite by now for being on the antibiotics for the last 2 days and slept over.
Melissa, went to her office for a while, had lunch in the cafeteria down below her office floor, did some work, attended few e-mails and reached back by the side of Steve’s bed around 4pm, only to find Steve in continued deep sleep. Melissa silently waited and she saw there is various hospital staff and all are moving about in different uniforms. Melissa wondered why so many categories of staff existing in the same hospital.
Melissa sitting and thinking about something and there only a person in another type of uniform arrived with a stretcher trolley. Steve was still sleeping by then and the person went near Steve, disconnected his IV fluid attachments and said, ‘Sir, please wake up, we have to take you to the OT.’
Melissa was asked to check that there are no ornaments on Steve’s body and take over everything. He was given a single cloth gown to wear and specifically advised not to use any underwear.
Steve opened his eyes; his dress was changed and he was rolled out to the trolley from his bed, IV attachments re-fixed and the trolley started its journey to the Operation Theatre (OT). A nurse from the ward was accompanying Steve to hand over the patient along with the treatment file. This is one such file which keeps on accompanying the patient wherever the patient goes; it contains the records of all the medications, doctor’s observations, test reports and prescriptions etc. Melissa also ran along with the trolley and she was stopped at the OT entrance this time in the 2nd floor of the hospital. The nurse said to Melissa, ‘Madam, you please wait here and let me hand over the patient to them.’
Steve once entered the hallway leading to the various operation theatres. Steve asked nurse, ‘how many such OT is there in this hospital.’
‘There are fifteen operation theatres, Five - General OT, Two - Pediatric OT, Four - Cardiac OT , Two – Maternity OT and Two - Neuro OT’s.’ – replied the nurse. ‘Wow that’s great, where will I be taken into?’ – exclaimed Steve.
‘General OT’, said the nurse. Steve saw several OT personnel moving about and all of them wearing green coloured dress, with head mask, gloves etc., there is a huge board on one particular room, written as ‘STERILISATION SUITE’, where the few staff on arrival are heading to and then they all are coming out wearing green uniforms. Yet another question came to Steve’s mind as to why all of them wearing green dress. Steve exuberantly stared at the lady looked to be the senior most in the department well surrounded by scrub nurses, Steve asked, ‘why all of you are wearing green dress?’
‘You want to know that as well, dear! OK. You know, green is a natural colour and the colour allows you to concentrate and not get emotional. Then on green colour the blood stains look blackish and that is easy to identify and lot less frightening. Green is thus preferable over white as the blood strains on white looks very bright because of reflection in excess by the white light and thus captures attention of the OT staff and scare them more’, answered the Lady so convincingly. She continued, ‘to help you relax, I shall address you Steve, OK. Now tell me, do you do jogging or do you do any form of exercise?
‘No’, said Steve.
‘Do you feel shortness of breath while climbing up the stairs’ – she asked yet again.
‘No’, said Steve and continued, ‘I can climb up and sped and generally climb two steps at a time’
Well, Steve was ordered to be taken to the operation table, a scrub nurse was pulling the trolley backwards and then just before reaching the spot she applied brakes on her own and Steve slid a bit on the trolley and Steve’s right feet accidentally touched her left boob. Steve felt that apart from green apron she was not wearing anything else. This may be due to Sterilisation issue Steve assumed.
Steve was now transferred to the Operation table. All the monitoring devices like, Heartbeat, Blood pressure etc., were fixed, IV fluid was continuing. There are provisions for Oxygen mask with metering device and for blood transfusion as well. Steve noticed here that the blood pressure instrument is an auto & it measures at an interval of about 2 minutes. There is a huge light on the top and there are many localized lamps which are maneuverable. There was more than ten staff dedicated to him.
OT was a grand place looked to be for Steve, with wooden floors and wood panel walls; aluminum paneled false ceiling, stainless steel strips and accessories with glass in every place wherever it could be. All places spic & span and was giving a grand neat outlook.
The lady who answered Steve’s question on ‘green colour’ was actually the Chief Anesthetist and her questions to Steve on exercise; stair climbing etc. was to ascertain Steve’s physical agility and therefore will help her to decide the dose of anesthesia to be administered on Steve.
Steve was now made to sit instead of lying down and held by scrub nurses. A chilling liquid was applied all over his spine. Steve felt there are three people behind his back. One elderly woman dictating a young woman and one middle age man was helping the situation.
The elderly woman said, ‘Push this injection now and inform to patient prior to doing that.’
‘Yeah, pushing a local anesthesia injection, OK’ the younger women said and then she started trembling and pushed the injection but Steve felt lot of pain and sensed the person is not an expert and may be a trainee.
Steve this time around started screaming at the top of his voice and said, ‘Do not make me a guinea pig, please doctor and ask the chief anesthetist to do the job. I am getting lot of pain, I cannot bear, please forgive me.’
At the same time the elderly woman took control of the situation and then she said, ‘Steve, relax, we wait for two minutes’ and continued to scratch the area around Steve’s lower spine. Then after a while said, ‘Now I am pushing the spinal anesthesia’ and Steve kept on waiting for yet another painful piercing push but that appeared did not come through. Steve thought these people are unnecessarily delaying things but the very next moment, the Chief Anesthetist asked, ‘Steve, do you feel any numbness in your legs?
‘Yes, I do’, said Steve
‘That’s fantastic’, said the staff in the OT. The Chief anesthetist confided to the trainee and said in a very low husky voice, ‘You know Madeline that means the local anesthesia has worked well and the patient could not feel the administration of spinal anesthesia and since the patient has started feeling numbness in his lower part, this also means the spinal anesthesia has already set in to work, got it?’
Steve lost his feeling from waist and below but sensed was able to talk and wanted to make sure that Dr. Rogers is around.
Steve was now made to lie down and this time Steve gleefully uttered, ‘Yes Sister, can I see my favourite doctor?’ and went on & on insisting on it. Dr Rogers just in the room next to it was waiting for the green signal from the head nurse, came rushing in and reassured, ‘Dear Steve, I am right here, don’t you worry’
‘Thank you Dr. and very nice to see you’ said Steve, ‘I am at your disposal today and have reposed all my faith & trust on you, Doctor’ carried on Steve, with expression of deep sense of gratitude.
Dr. Rogers said, OK, OK dear now relax, I will perform on you the surgery, known as darada..**tomy. Steve could not comprehend the initial letters of the surgical procedure.
Steve this time around ticked conversation with a nurse and said, ‘my girlfriend - her name is Melissa, is waiting outside, how can I inform her that I am OK, is there any way, sister? You know what, she is a very caring girl and she is beautiful as well. Most importantly, has an equally beautiful mind if not better. You look very close to Melissa, are from Philippines?’
The nurse however did not pay any heed to what Steve had to say and harped instead, ‘Look Gentleman, can you see the LED right in front of you, you can opt to see the surgical procedures live or if you are too scared then we shall place a curtain over your waist and hang it up. This way you will not be able to see anything for now, but never mind we shall give a recorded CD of the procedure and you can see at leisure of your home later.’
Steve said, ‘Oh Yeah, I got a CD for the colonoscopy as well!’
The procedure took may be around 20 minutes, Melissa who was anxiously waiting outside the OT was shown the two operated piece of the growth filled in a transparent container enveloped in scary blood.
Dr. Rogers said, ‘Hi, young lady, the procedure is complete, the patient is stable & OK. We are going to send these samples to histopathology lab for checking malignancy. The patient at the moment is in the recovery room and shortly shall be transferred to the bed, All the best.’
‘Thank you Doctor’, said Melissa.
Steve was brought in to the recovery room, and connected to all auto emergency devices like oxygen supply, heartbeat, pulse & blood pressure monitors. Steve was conscious & oriented though and looked up all over the place. Steve saw that, there were about six to eight patients in the recovery lounge. To his left there was a girl fully unconscious on oxygen & blood transfusion and to his right there was a middle aged gentleman who was in his senses but on life support system.


To know the rest, please read my book.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Whatever is written out here is not that I know everything; I must admit and express my gratitude to Mr Jimmy Wales the founder of Wikipedia and Mr.Larry Page & Sergey Bin of Google without whose creation of information libraries in the web I could not have assimilated these works.
Thank you the great creators DISCLAIMER While I dislike to start off with a disclaimer, however, you know it is sometimes a great experience to have a bitter dish as a starter, thus the protagonist of the book prefers to remain as anonymous and all opinions & characters depicted in this work are not necessarily true and may be unintentional & co-incidental in the instances they might resemble with any one either dead or alive. That's precisely the reason while this appears in the end of the blog & in the begining of my content - Forward from the Author