Whistling Hunters

The Indian wild dogs or the dholes are also known as the whistling dogs are highly social and stay in packs numbering anywhere from 2 to 20 or even more. They often hunt in packs and are known to down preys double their size in co-ordinated attack. During my trip to Kabini last year did photograph a pack of 7 dogs going out on a hunt and here are few images of them

This images shows 6 of the dogs in a frame crossing the road that runs in the forest

This was taken as they came out of the bush ... playfully

Two of the dholes relaxing beside the road










They produce a whistle sounding coo -coo and hence they are known as whistling hunters

PreConceived Notions

A colleague of mine seeing me dressed in a jeans and shirt commented “Dress according to your age…jeans are for youngsters”. This actually fueled me to write about Preconceived notions that most people have in India.

It very evident that my friend has a preconceived idea  set in his mind that a man or a woman who are aged 50 and beyond cannot wear Jeans pants. Now what is a preconceived notion and how does it happen… well this starts right from tender age while your parents keep saying don’t do this or if you do this you will be gauged like this and so forth. These opinions of parents or peers are implanted in one’s mind and you have set answers to questions and that are considered as gospel truth.

Most people have the following preconceived thoughts or notions and it is very difficult to convince them that the same is not true…..…..

·         Blonde women are dumb

·         People who wear glasses are studious

·         Blacks are lazy & also most Virile

·         Jews will cheat you in business

·         Men with beards are Muslims

·         All Muslims are terrorists

·         Judge people before even knowing him / her

·         Girls in film / fashion industry have no morality

·         Girls with skimpy dress or revealing dress are the cause of rapes

·         Wife needs to work at home as the man is the bread winner

·         Older men should act their age & be mature

·         A woman cannot be bossing over you at work place

·         Women are bad drivers

The above list is not the entire list and it would go on for pages as we to have preconceived answers for all situations and settings around us.

Instead of judging a person or any other thing with preconceived notions or thoughts have an open frame of mind and gauge accordingly and I am sure you would find that preconceived notions are totally wrong and judgmental

If you readers have any thoughts to add about this please comment !!!!

Common ...yet not so common

In my growing up years i have seen scores of common sparrows or the house sparrows around my home and sadly now you can hardly see few sparrows in Chennai. 

These common sparrows are associated with human settlements and are native to most parts of Europe, Mediterranean and Asia. The decline in numbers of the sparrows has been gradual due to killing by humans as it is conceived as a pest because of its numbers. The house sparrow has long been used as food item in northern Europe where earthen ware know as sparrow pots were hung on projections of roof or trees around the house to attract nesting birds so that the young can be harvested. Sparrow pie was a traditional dish and is associated with having aphrodisiac properties. 

Male and female Common Sparrow at JLR Kabini resort grounds

The myth of having aphrodisiac properties may be one of the reason why there are reduced number of common sparrows ...i am not too sure of this reason ... just kidding :)

Ziggurat of Ur - Iraq

During my employment at Baghdad, Iraq between 1981 and 1983 i have gone round almost whole of Iraq on weekends and holidays along with a group of 9 friends. Each weekend we take the Dyna 3 ton open pickup vehicle and with only three persons in cabin balance of us sit in the open and to make our seating comfortable we use sponge beds and during winters also take our woolen blankets. It was indeed great fun and adventure as most of us were around 24-26 years old. To keep us company we used to take crates of chilled beers during summer and whiskey during winters 

Me with Ziggurat of Ur in background

One such week end we decided to visit a monument near Nasiriyah about  350 kms south of Baghdad known as Ziggurat of Ur  that was built in 21^st Century before Christ in dedication Nanna/Sin - God of Moon , the patron  deity of Sumerians in the city of Ur and it was rebuilt again in 6^th century BCE as it had crumbled to ruins. The building was excavated by an English archeologist in between 1920’s and 1930 and is one of the three  best preserved Neo-Sumerian Ziggurat in the world. The Sumerians called it “Etemenniguru”  which meant Temple whose foundation creates aura.

Reconstructed Ziggurat taken in 2005

The monument was crumbling and under Saddam Hussein in 1980’s a partial reconstruction of the faced was done was done and you can see the reconstructed image taken in 2005 and my Image taken in 1982.

Details and image of reconstructed Ziggurat – Courtesy Wikipedia

Kickbacks by Diagnostic Centers and Revenue generation in Hospitals

Image Courtesy -Google Images

This post is purely based on my personal experiences that I have had in last couple of years. At no point of time do I demean the entire medical fraternity … as the saying goes …There are sure going to be some rotten apples in the basket.

Invariably a list of unrelated tests is prescribed by your doctor when you visit him when sick and we do undertake these tests without any questions for we are worried about our health. Now these tests are conducted in a diagnostic centers or testing centers where the name of reference doctor is noted and accordingly weekly or on a monthly basis a certain commission is sent across to the referring doctor…. This is known as referral fee. This information was given by the test center and as well as a doctor friend and this hold true for most doctors unless they specifically tell the test center to pass on this commission to the patients instead of them( The doctors I know personal are doing this).

Image Courtesy -Google Images

One such incident is while my wife had gone to meet couple of doctors while she was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. We met a particular doctor Dr.xxx who had treated a friend and he after checking my wife suggested PET scan to find out the spread of cancer at a test center. Then my wife went to meet another team of doctors lead by Dr.yyy suggested by my cousin who also suggested same test at the center. The cost of scan suggested by Dr.xxx was Rs. 25,000.00 and whereas the same test if we used the prescription of Dr.yyy would cost only Rs 14,000.00. The tests are the same and hence enquired at the test center why the difference in cost, we were informed that they had to pay a commission of Rs 11,000.00 for each patient referred by Dr.xxx for this particular test.

I was totally appalled by this kickback scheme being operated by the doctors and test centers thereby depriving the patients of their hard earned money. I did raise this point with Dr.yyy and he said… yes this is how it operates but me and my team do not want to fleece our patients who are already suffering with the dreaded cancer and hence we have told the test center to pass on this benefit to our patients. I do know few doctors consider this kickback as immoral and against the ethics of their profession. Medical Council of India clause 6- Unethical Acts in their Code of Ethics addresses the issue of rebates and commissions Read here ,but then as in most cases in India.. the rules are meant to be broken not followed

Most hospitals these days are run by corporates and everyone working there are under pressure to generate revenues for the hospital. Hence if you are a patient in a particular hospital you would be subjected to various tests to be conducted in the hospital even you have had these tests done earlier elsewhere. Also the doctors are told to retain patients in hospital as long as possible to gain revenues. This may sound callous but then this is happening for sure and I have overheard three doctors discussing about this while on a lift within a reputed hospital (They may have thought that I am a doctor too J looking at my appearance)

Gone are the days when individuals would aspire to become a doctor so that they are able to serve the mankind (though I know few doctors do just that and collect a nominal fee just to take care of their overheads for operating their clinics). These days people are becoming doctors with the aim of becoming rich fast and have high income on a regular basis. No doubts the money spent for becoming a doctor also has gone up exponentially in India with donations alone touching a crore of rupees and the fees between 40 to 50 lacs. It is quite natural with this kind of money being spent by an individual to become a doctor he is bound to succumb to the pressures of recovering the same and this directly affects the patients.

I am sure most of you would have experience similar instances and please leave your comments of these experiences.