Reflections

It is the long weekend here in Malaysia. The Chinese New Year is a big festival here. I remember watching dragon dances in Kolkata in my younger days when there was a large and vibrant Chinese population in Kolkata. Even today, I am told the New Year is celebrated with great fervour in Tangra, but ever since the heart of Chinatown moved out from central Kolkata, I have really lost track of it. Mummy’s Kitchen is now a memory; the many evenings we spent eating out there for practically nothing now part of a Kolkata that is now like a fading photograph. The last time I was there, the Chinese temple still existed, and the school also seemed to be functioning, I wonder if it still does. Those of us who spent the seventies and the eighties as students, interns, housemen and postgraduates in the Medical College of Bengal will know what I am talking about. When I returned to my alma mater as part of the staff in the nineties I realized that the Chinatown had shifted its focus from Central ...

There is an age for reading love stories. The love stories that one reads in teenage life, particularly one that is read just after a heartbreak, leave an impression that stays for ages. At least this is true for me and for many of my friends with whom I have discussed this. The wonder and the romanticism remain even up to a comfortable middle age. In my teenage days two love stories made an impression on me that still persists, I cannot re read the books even today, long after my (and for that matter my daughter’s) teenage is history without feeling a pang of romance, a whiff of the spring breeze and without hearing the sound of Rabindrasangeet playing very softly from far away. These novels still cause a shiver to pass down my aging spine and I can remember enchanted gardens and the music played by angels all of which never ever existed except in my imagination. Whenever I think of a love story I think of two books in particular, One of them has enchanted romantics since the thirt...

I am now in Kuala Lumpur. It is a hot destination for many outbound tourists nowadays, KL, Singapore and Bangkok are the most favoured foreign destinations for Indian tourists nowadays. I had never visited it earlier; my foreign travel has been very restricted. The gateway to this city is the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. I have not yet seen the Changi Airport, which , they say , is one of the best in the world. but this airport was absolutely fabulous. The terminal is all that an international airport could wish for, including, incredibly a train to take you from the Arrival terminal to the Immigration and baggage area. The Immigration could have been more efficient, but connectivity to the city ( the airport is some 60 odd kilometers from the city proper), is excellent. There is a choice of a train service which takes you through these 60 kilometers in an incredible 28 minutes. Alternatively you can take taxis, coaches and a slower train that will stop at many stations in betw...

It has been some time since I last wrote my blog. The reason has been some changes that have taken place in my life. I have moved to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to take up a job in clinical research. I will be working with a stem cell company, coordinating research in what is a new and very exciting field. Why did I move? I am not so sure myself. While I was making large amounts of money from practice, it had totally ceased to be challenging. I could see myself doing the same operations for years on end and earning larger and larger sums of money. Fortunately our needs seem to be a lot less than most of our friends and we are fairly satisfied with our lot, so that it was possible for me to take up a new challenge, which hopefully would be more intellectually satisfying. I leave behind many dreams which I could not realize. I had hoped to be able to set up a cardiac centre in Siliguri which really needs one such centre. I spent a lot of my time running from pillar to post at the level of t...