Berlin under Nazi rule witnessed the emergence of a concentration camp North of the city, where innocent people were made to see hell on earth. Berlin during World War 2 saw air raids, bombings and widespread starvation. Berlin during the Cold War saw the erection of the Berlin Wall, dividing
"Literature is born out of a desire to be truthful– not to hide anything and not to present oneself as somebody else. Yet when you write there are certain obligations, what I call laws of form. You cannot tell everything." -- Czeslaw Milosz An hour before I started
Dear Doctor, I hope you are doing well. I hope your family and friends are happy and well. I can count the number of days I have been a working doctor. But, just like my colleagues, I have been pulling long days and nights at the hospital. Most days, we
"Stand up and read aloud." Almost two decades might have passed since the order struck panic like an arrow straight to the centre of my chest, and I can still feel it. I stood up, clutching the book to cover my face and began to read slowly. If
2010: I was fascinated by my mother's successes. I would watch her give her all at work, then come home to do the same for us as the words "Hard work always wins" bounced around as the screensaver on her laptop. 2018: I used to watch
One of my school friends had a baby last year and just bought a house, one of my friends just got a pilot licence and is travelling the world, a random couple on the internet is renovating an age-old castle (I learnt that the temperature can only be raised by
I love how my mother's soft hands with the one gold ring feel on my face. I can recall the pencil dent on G's forefinger during exam time. My sister's hands always feel like fresh Play-Doh because she washes them 20 times/day. From
I was going through my old emails, and I came across the personal statement that I wrote to get into medical school. It has been five years since, and I can confirm that being a medical mud-blood (my parents are not doctors), I came in with very idealistic views. When
Maybe it is because of the media romanticising the idea of being different, or it is an inbuilt desire to be part of the crowd and stand out- to be on the receiving end of people's praise, admiration and envy. But, trying to be different can actually be
In 2003, Shelley Jackson wrote a 2000 word story called 'SKIN', and each word of the story was tattooed on the skin of 2000 volunteers who carry with them a part of the story (one word and possibly a punctuation mark, to be precise). This was the only
A thought experiment.
When I was younger, we went on a road trip to Scotland. It was the first time my family bought a GPS for the car. It was a Garmin, with a blue arrow showing the way. My sister and I would sit in the back seat, begging to hold it.
Hysteria is a greek word that translates to mean 'uterus'. In the past, mental illness in women were blamed on their 'wandering uterus' that was believed to travel around the body, causing problems. Throughout the centuries, there have been wild theories and practices to diagnose and
"Hey! Are you free? We could go get free pizza at Union Square. They're giving free pizza to Freshers," I messaged AS over four years ago. She responded within seconds, saying, "Yeah, sure. Should I meet you outside in 5 minutes?" We ate our
My uncle goes on walks almost everyday. I've sometimes seen the blue sky and the dangling wires of the earphones more than his face when my mum video calls him. In the summer, we visited my uncle, aunt and my cousins in the US. What fascinated me the
A few months ago, I was studying to pass my medical school final exams. This means packing food to eat in the library, trying hard not to cry when I couldn't answer questions on a topic that I had just studied a day ago, and complaining about how
I remember a gift my friend gave me seven years ago. It was a phone case with the words, "Should I stay or should I go?" It was a reference to a Netflix series that I liked called, 'Stranger Things'. I've been writing on
It has been a busy couple of days. Watching both the sunrise and the sunset on the commute to and from hospital placement. In the morning when I wake up, and when I go to sleep at night, I find myself fighting sleep. It feels like I am living my
Two years ago, during my summer holidays I travelled to India alone and visited my grandmother's house in a rural town. I spent a few days there with her. She'd wake up early to visit the fields, and I'd coop up reading in the
This is the last week of my general practice placement. We usually have little control over which clinic we are placed in, it's the medical school lucky draw. You could be placed in one which is a ten minute walk from your accommodation, or you could be placed
Most of us grew up listening to fairy tales, stories of how good triumphs over evil. Beauty, courage and kindness are considered heroic, and the villains are portrayed as scary, selfish, jealous and devoid of any 'desirable' human sentiment. Reality is hardly that simple. Nothing is ever black
On the Friday just passed, I was supposed to be at a concert. My mum and I were going and she was really excited about it. I had even applied for leave, so I could drive us to London. During the drive, we had a long conversation for two hours
In the morning, my friends and I packed our lunches and set out to the library. There was a lot left to study, and everything that I studied was slipping out of my mind, like water through a sieve. I say my before-exam-catch phrase to J, "Can you please