Home? and SJS

I look out from atop (10th floor of the SAL hospital). I see the city on a rainy day. Just after the rain has cooled off the sweltering heat of Ahmedabad.

Suddenly a sense of belonging overwhelms. No, not the hospital, but being back in Ahmedabad, India – my native city. Rainwashed untidy imperfect buildings and bunglows. Chaotic traffic and string of cars parked by the side of the street with the chocolate colored wet mud serving as a contrasting base to the spectacle. A couple of rustic temples and a cow shed in the middle. Listening to an equally rustic Punjabi folk song on my ipod. Somehow it just seems to soothe the soul. I feel in a state which my inner being seems to remember from time so before, it almost seems a different life. A state my mind seems to be trying to remember and analyze but my heart wont let it. It seems to scream out to the brain: -- I feel just right, let me be!!

I know I will be out of this spell in matter of hours. Which is fine. It felt good to feel this way and it will be right to shake right out of it…and let life resume!!

Now to get to the real matter I wanted to write about. I am here on a very sudden trip I decided on a couple of days back. I am in Ahmedabad for a week attending to a family emergency. Someone close was suffering from a condition called Steven Johnson Syndrome (SJS): a disorder triggered primarily as a reaction to a drug. Though very rare and relatively modern and without a reliable cure, it is a disorder that all should be aware and cognizant off because it can be brought upon by the simplest of drugs like even aspirins and penicillin family of drugs. So just a word of caution to our pill popping allopathic friendly club (of which I am a patron) : beware and aware the next time you pop a pill as to what you are putting in your mouth ! Having said that allergies really are just a medical accidents. One you really cannot plan for. But just like accidents, you sure can take precautions to prevent them!!

Peace out. Later!!