Reflections

This is  series of pictures of a fishing boat landing its catch on Cherai Beach, Kochi Kerala. The pictures were taken on my recent trip in February Two fishermen at dawn, drawing in the lines  Work over, they rest for a while  Man's best friend awaits the landing of the catch  They now head for the shore  The boat has landed  Pushing the boat on to the beach Well above the tideline  Ah: The catch ! What are those? Swordfish?  Sorting the catch  Not much reward for a quite strenuous work 

It is difficult for practicing physicians to win the Nobel Prize. Nobels are nowadays mostly awarded for laboratory based research and no matter how innovative the surgical technique that is conceived of and popularized, it is well-nigh impossible for a surgeon to make the grade. I personally cannot understand what was lacking in Michael Debakey’s accomplishments, that he never won the prize despite repeated nominations. I should have thought that someone who revoutionised vascular and to some extent cardiac surgery and strode the world of twentieth century medicine like a colossus would have done enough to deserve it, but somehow the powers that be thought differently. I can think of several other names in the surgical field who richly deserved the prize. The surgeons who did win the prize, however often won for work in areas other than surgery. Theodor Kocher  The first to be awarded was the king of surgery in the late nineteenth century and the person who standardi...