As a small spiritual practice, I write one haiku every day. I don’t try to imitate classical Japanese haiku, with 17 syllables, a word that divides the poem, and a word that indicates the season. But I do use this practice to cultivate a Zen spirit: mindfulness of the moment, responsiveness to ...

Once they went out to play
but now we’ve stolen their spring

The morning light trickles in ray by ray
From deep slumber I see the wake of day
My mind swirls and whirls and seems to sway
And quietly reveals where I stay!

With sparkling eyes, he said, "Mama, tell me a story!
A new one this time – with kingdoms, battles and glory...
The mother, just twenty years old, smiled weakly at her five-year-old son
Closed her eyes, and with a hint of melancholy began.

Think of the old days, Oh Grandpa!
Blissful and brimful of laughter and smiles.
As I toddled down the path of life,
You showed me the way for so many miles.

I am only a student of medicine
Cannot prescribe the pills that may cure Mr G,
Just wheeled into the emergency,
A sixty something, 'altered mentally'.

"Doctor, please come immediately!" The voice of the nurse summoning him to the Anti-Rabies Clinic (ARC) indicated urgency, fear and exasperation. As he rushed to the ARC, Dr James felt an escalating sense of foreboding. The distress call from the usually calm and competent nurse in-charge of the ...

The day I entered medical school,
Memories I so much cherish;
With dreams and expectations which,
I doubted, would ever perish...

The white and fluffy mycelial growth that I had observed 48 hours ago had turned a mottled grey. I inverted the plate of Sabouraud's dextrose agar (SDA) to examine its reverse. A sinister ochre stared at me.

No one can sleep here in Juhapura. Before dawn one has to go to do one's business. Back in Naroya, we had sheds with common toilets. Some people had their own toilets, at the corner of the kitchen. Outside, there were stones to step on, and tap water. Here, behind the huts is a stinking nala<...