Seasons come and go, hurricanes come and go, so does the issue of increasing reservations in our society. Everyone gets emotional about this, the whole nation is divided on this issue, yet our politicians are trying to create further rift amongst us by creating religion based reservations!! I have seen this all 15 years ago and am seeing it all again..that poor Rajeev Goswami...was his death worth all this? Stupid idiot I would say? I hear arguments from both sides, and to be honest nothing will ever convince me that reservations will bring the uplifting of the backward classes, USA is a living proof of it, despite its economical might, infrastructure and technology. For those of you who say ( i have seen it come up a few times) that Indians are benefitting from the affirmative action, is load of nonsense. Indians are not benefitting, it`s a different face of modern day slavery, we are here because they need us and we work like donkeys without asking quetions. Well I am straying away from the topic ( will write about history of american slavery and affirmative action in another blog), coming back to our issue, to this day there is no hard data, to prove to the scientific mind that affirmative action has helped the black or native american society. People who benefit are few and you have seen it in New Orleans in the news.

But the difference with India is more than 70% of the population falls into the backward category and our educaional institutions are infact catering probably more to the so called elite class  ( though I would argue, majority of them are no longer elite). The most important thing we are forgetting here is the fact that, all of us are fighting for the taxpayers money. Everyone wants a piece of the pie, and get cheap professional education, face it, it`s probably the cheapest in the world.  How about letting more private educational institutions run the show, the costs of private education will come down ( its a lot cheaper to study in a private engineering college these days in my state)....let the proreservationists have their government pie. But the only problem with this is; will the politicians leave these prospering institutions alone, I already hear voices that reservations should be instituted in privately run organisations and privately owned firms..which is a preposterous, atrocious, utter shamelessness, whatever you call it......I do like to see a truly unified India, but thats probably a very utopic vision.....untill these caste based division in the Hindu society exists, we are not going to progress as a nation.

Hi Swati,

Yoghurt, Buttermilk, Icecream, Soy products, Broccoli, Cabbage, Bread, Nuts, Turnips, Salmon, Cheese, Fortifed fruit juices are all decent spurces of dietary calcium. If  one is a strict vegan (excludes all forms of milk products) your best sources are the vegs and fortified juices are the alternatives. But if one is just milk intolerant, all other froms of dairy are still very good sources of calcium. Hope this answers your query.

Hello Everyone,

I would like to answer Health related questions and blog on specific topics at people`s request. It might not be a regular feature because of my busy schedule but will try my best to be prompt with my replies and post fairly regular blogs ( this of course is dependant on the response I get). Why am I doing this? Do I have a secondary gain? The answer is, I am an NRI feeling guilty about not being able to give back anything to my people, hence this venture. And the second part, NO i don`t have any secondary gain or motive, I don`t expect anything in return from you.( and you will have to take my word for it, I am afraid). My answers will be strictly on health issues. They are not to be considered as Medical advise and I would expect you to still go and see your regular doctor for all your Medical needs
I have been wanting to do this for a while now. Never had the time nor opportunity till now. I now realize it`s time to make a start. Well a little about myself, I am a graduate of MBBS from Hyderabad. I then went to England for my Post Graduation and have completed my traning in General Medicine (MRCP degree) and completed 3 years of training in Respiratory Medicine (chest diseases like TB, Asthma, Lung cancer,smoking etc.). I have since moved to US and am currently working in the USA.
 
So if you have any questions please send your e-mail to donep@rediffmail.com. They will be strictly confidential and will not be used for anyother purposes.

If you want to check my credentials out I can give them to you on request. Also I am posting this on my Pen name.

The other day, I went to a Telugu movie in on of the inane suburbs of Boston. It was a inconspicuos small town movie hall. Was surprised at the turn out, a good 500 people turned up to watch this new release. The hero was the new heart throb of the telugu crowd and the leading girl, a cute upcoming NRI girl. It has been a while since I had watched a Telugu movie, honeslty, was never a big fan of these commercial movies, but enjoyed the simple fun of going to the movies in my college. I remember the first day in my college, I was hoping to attend my first Biochemistry class, got ready to leave the hostel. Suddenly one of the final year guys turned up in my room. I had never met this guy, he asked me what I was getting ready for. I said meekly, " Biochemistry class". He said, " Okay, lets go together". I was a bit nervous; regardless, I obeyed like a lamb and followed him. Soon  three other friends of his joined us and we started walking from the hostel. I realised we were walking towards the town instead of the college. I dare not ask these people were they were heading, after all they were the FINAL YEAR students. I just kept walking with them. They were chatting away and were asking a few questions about myself. Finally we reached the town centre. Then suddenly one of them asked me, " Don`t you wanna know where we are going?". I simply said "yes, where?". He answered, to a new release movie. I was shocked, I had till that point in my life never left a class to watch a movie. Well there it started and then over the next five years in med school I hardly missed a new movie. 

So here I was with an old friend of mine from college whom I hadn`t met in a couple of years.  I hadn`t seen this number of Indians gather since I had arrived in the US. It felt good to be in the company of likes. There were people of all ages, families, kids etc. The movies started with the usual gawdy entrance of hero, the crowd erupted with whistles and shouts. It was fun, felt like I was in a theatre in India again. The story was yet again a lift from a Hollywood movies, but the faces were fresh, so I didn`t mind. As with all of these commercial movies there was a comedy track to the movie which was unrelated to the movie theme. It was lewd and at times obnoxious, my friend was laughing away. I kept wondering if something was wrong with me, that I wasn`t finding this comedy funny. Anyway it got to a point where I couldn`t bear it any longer. The chief comedian has a tussle with a destitute on the street, who happens to be the chief of all the 'beggars" in the city. From then on every time the comedian walks on the street he is heckled by a large herd of "beggars". Its not that I was never exposed to the poverty at home, but what hurt me most was the fact that director decides to actually pay destitutes and the disabled from the streets to enact the scene. What was even more saddening was that, the crowd would erupt in roar whenever they would see these "beggars" follow this guy  with a chant. And these were well educated people working the USA. What is wrong with us Indians, why are we so insensistive to these social issues. How can any person perceive this as comedy, when real life destitutes are depicted as objects of fun on the screen. May be I am too sensitive to these issues.Oh, by the way my friend reflected that my threshold of laughter was too high because I wasn`t finding any of this funny. Well, I thought there`s one more thing I need to work on, my sense of humour!!