Reflections

After the fiasco of our last planned trip (to Borobodur, where the eruption of Mount Merapi forced the cancellation of our trip) we were a trifle apprehensive about our next trip this time to Sandakan, in the East coast of the Borneo islands. Just to explain, Borneo, the third largest island in the world is shared by three countries, the tiny sultanate of Brunei, Indonesia and two Malaysian states which straddle the northern part of the island and this time we were headed for Sandakan in the state of Sabah. The word Sabah means “ the land below the wind”, which implies that it lies below the typhoon belt that ravages the Philippines, Taiwan and South China from time to time. When Magellan first came sailing around these waters, Sabah had been for centuries a source of edible bird’s nests, timber and much other forest produce for the Chinese. The population has a large proportion of Chinese. Sabah has some of the best rain forest in the world, now sadly depleted by the greed of timb...

Our journalists are the most holier than thou people in modern India. They are not afraid of tilting against any windmill and have no fear of tearing to shreds any reputation, however big. The medical profession has been a particular target and there is not a single day that newspapers and TV channels do not carry an attack on the profession as a whole or on a particular practitioner whether justified or otherwise. It has always seemed odd to me that a journalist, often educated to a degree level in a third rate college could arbitrate on the capabilities (or otherwise) of a senior physician who has put in decades of study and experience. But in today’s world, journalists are king. I have also felt bemused at the vicious opposition of all the newspaper editors to free entry of competition from the Western world in their field while they are fearless champions of competition in all other domains. It also seemed odd sometimes that while journalists were so free in attacking the she...