WHATSAPP FORWARDS

"You will not read any of my WhatsApp messages and so it is useless to send you anything.” My mother said to me. I acknowledged her by my silence mentally reciting," I read all that you sent to me".

So, here I am busy reading all about Indian spices and medicinal herbs used as daily household ingredients, thereby indulging in more studies on naturopathy as compared to any other ‘pathy’ which has side effects.

I speed dialled my mother when my patient refused to undergo the procedure of scaling to clean her teeth in favour of 'alum', or "phitkari," a desi nuskha. No wonder patients shirk away from scaling. I ruminate. "I just called you up to confirm if you WhatsApped something to my patient "I vented.

Ever since, I have been scrolling through all her erstwhile messages to know more about natural healthier medicaments, their benefits and roles in dentistry and health.

Oh! WhatsApp was not there when I was a student. No wonder, my gold medal involved many sleepless nights devouring the dental Bibles while the days were full of rigorous work of treating patients provided in steady streams by our professors.

If only WhatsApp was there, I would just have to read the forwarded messages on WhatsApp.

World Book Day

Usha Vance became the Second Lady of the United States, following JD Vance, her husband’s election as Vice President. An accomplished attorney and the first Asian-American holding the position. Last week, she occupied the center stage in India. A lot was talked about the book Iliad, which she carried during the campaign for her husband. What interested me was neither of them, but her title. It reminded me of something I had read years ago. Irving Wallace’s THE SECOND LADY. In our younger days, we frequented libraries and often the shops at Janpath in Delhi to buy reasonably priced paperbacks or second-hand books. My sister and I visited our chachi to borrow her library books. She would recommend them, much like Goodreads . Those were not the times of the internet, and recommendations were always made through word of mouth. I remember her narration of the political thriller. “ The first lady of the United States is abducted during a state visit to Moscow and replaced by a Russi...

Yoga se hoga… pr yoga kaise hoga? (It will happen by yoga- but how will yoga happen?)

If you have ever tried starting yoga, you know the struggle: motivation fades, and mats gather dust. For me, yoga was always on my bucket list, but what I needed was the intent to start. Then something unexpected happened. My yoga group formed an unusual trio: my 80-year-old mother, my niece visiting from the USA, and me. Every morning at 6:30 am, we gathered not in the garden but in front of our TV to tune into live yoga sessions by Saurabh Bothra. And guess what? Yoga did happen. It wasn’t perfect, but it was consistent. We stretched, laughed, and even dozed off in shavaasan, but slowly, breath by breath, a habit was born. Because sometimes all it takes is showing up together.

JULIE & JULIA

You always say you don’t see many movies but still, you seem to have seen every one of them’ commented my husband. ‘Yes I used to see all the movies in my younger years that came on television and besides this, we have always been blessed to stay in houses which had cinema halls just within walking distance. Living in a joint family with uncles and aunts was an additional privilege too. The good old days are gone. Never mind, we now have theatres in every house. The fifty-five-inch screens and the Netflix, accentuated by home theatre systems suffice for the theatres. Soon I too disappeared into my phone, tablet and the next smart thing, all too tempting to disengage. Google's recommendation to watch ten movies before Netflix decided to remove them drew my attention to a classic. It was a recommendation also once from my sister, by name it was a woman-oriented movie and not one but two women and lastly, it appeared in the comedy section. I was all eyes and ears to ‘Julie and Juli...

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