a doctor dictates

All you folks beware

I am the doctor of today.

I would sell you off

Even before a word you say.

I worked hard for years

On the pretext to help you all.

Now is the time to redeem it

And cause your glorious fall.

Ha Ha Ha, there I see you come

And my eyes sparkle with delight.

I shall cut you along

And do wonders with my might.

No one but me rules the earth

Even your God sits next to me,

Where shall now you go with prayers

Each road, o hapless, comes back to me.

Worthy that I am

Crowned over your life,

I shall see that you get

Life after all your strife.

But pay me well, that you shall

I demand your happiness with it.

Give me all in offering

On your sweat lies my glory replete.

a prayer from a poor patient

Doctors, Dear Doctors,

kindly help me through.

I am submerged in pain

And now, just rely on you.

You are next to God,

as I always say,

Where to end my miseries

From you only, is what I pray.

I have come from a thousand miles

Travelled from a distant land

Just to be treated today

to get me a relief, grand.

I shall sell all I have

I shall do all ye ask

Give everything in offering

O God, just do your task.

Let my hope prevail

let this glimmer shine.

I wont do much for you

But build an ageless shrine.

From birth till death

In all times I shall see you.

You are the only one

Who brings for me, smiles few.

retailing

Today let me don my marketing hat and try to evaluate something very personal. I am trying my first major analysis of a trend. Dont get shocked, its not gonna be something high fundoo and laden with creativity, but its gonna be something which I have witnessed more often in the recent past. Am talking about the entry of full scale retailing in the medical sector.

I may sound pretty like a layman while trying to attempt this, but i think I can get that much leeway. So let me start.

Retailing can be defined as "Consists of those business activities involved in the sale of goods and services to consumers for their personal, family, or household use." (thats a defination from prentice hall website). As we can see, it involves direct contact with the end user. Its very easy to understand the concept of retailing, visualizing a mom-n-pop shop owner trying to sell a commodity to you. There you are the end user and he is addressing some need of yours. Whatever you get from him, as per your demand and requirement, in all likelihood you would the consumer or someone in your household. So this is what retailing can be understood as. Now, you would ask me as to how I am saying this is a trend in the medical field. Well, then read along.

You all must have heard or seen something which reads like this :

Kaya Skin Clinic http://kayaclinic.com

Well, thats something which is quite visible. Some other thing which you may not have seen but might be affected some day is like this :

Wellspring laboratories http://www.wellspring.in

Now let us try and understand them.

Kaya is a venture by Marico Industries Ltd. and deals with complete skin care. If you visit any of their centre, you would find a mix of a beauty parlour with amalgamated with your local dermatologist. And this presents a beautiful concept, of course, "beautiful" literally. Dermatologists have till now in Indian society always been a referral doctors. We have this tendency to approach a physician first of all, for any problem that we think is there with out body system. This physician then acts as a watershed and directs us to the required doc of our need. Though this attitude is changing now a days and has changed significantly in the learned classes. What Kaya is doing is trying to bypass the physician or any other doctor of that sort, and get you to the direct point of contact, the dermatologist. Though this requires, an awesome amount of awareness to be created, I think they are being successful at the same. It brings in a fantastic mix of corporate marketing with basic medicine. They are targeting right now generally at the upper middle class( afterall its very true that the lower class finds it tough to even meet the daily vitamin requirement, leave aside getting a healthy skin). They have concentrated more on print and word-of-mouth media than on the audio-visual. This was the good side of the project. The good that I think they did is to make medicine a lil more glamourous for the customer.

Now let me see the flip side. It looks more like a saloon. A typical service industry place. So much finesse has gone in the furnishing of the retailing side that I guess they might loose out on the medical aspect. They still cant sideline a local dermatologist. They havent yet made it amply clear that each centre is headed by a dermatologist. They look more of beauty experts rather then skin clinic (which they proclaim). Also, the prices are directed more to the upper middle class and that should be limiting the affordability. They can start having packages at more varied pricing points.

So, I think kaya needs to strike a better balance between the therapeutic aspect and the beauty role.

Lets see something about Wellspring. Wellspring is a chain of laboratories started by the Nicolas Piramal India Ltd (NPIL) as it is said. Headed by Dr. Swati Piramal, wife of Mr. Ajay Piramal. This too is a nice case of retailing. Till now, pathology laboratories have been the backdoor performers in the medical fraternity. They were widely respected by their peers but they were not regarded as brands by the local population. There have been famous local players but nobody had anything of a regional presence, leave aside national. But with labs such as Thyrocare, SRL Ranbaxy, Wellspring, Metropolis, etc this is undergoing a radical change. We are seeing efforts being made by these labs to approach the patient on their own. Its something like Intel coming up with the "intel inside" campaign. But this is even bigger. By getting accreditation and later on consolidating, these labs are trying to gain a better ground in medical retailing. They are becoming iconic brands in front of the patient. The direct consumer. This could in turn, give them a better ground in front of the intermediary physician ( thats probable only if they dont alienate the doctors too much, by trying to be bigger these ageing medical icons). Coming up with packages like lipid profile, etc. they are trying to tap the Primary health care and the preventive health care market. More likely the latter. This does provide them access to a huge potential wherein the physician's reference is not that much required. Whether the physicians accept this trend or not, the consumers ("patients" would not be appropriate here) would rule the roost. These labs are prying on the basic dream of each person, to live a healthy life. Creating awareness, to the extent of a phobia, is the name of the game. Lets see how the market warms up to the reaction.

The major areas where there would be action, would be governed by :

• the medical fraternity, esp the physicians.
• the local lab players, who currently are very fragmented(but have a nice rapport with the local medical community)
• the corporate hospitals (who can enter this field on their own, as they have the required managerial experience and the established brand name)
• awareness in the population of their rights and needs

So i guess, I have tried my dumb mind to do some evaluation.
Would do more of this in future,
till then,
ciao.

Now......

Words are betraying me now.
Feelings are leaving me now.
I wish I could meet you
To end this slow death of mine, now.

Hold my hands together now
Press them hard against yours now
And see the smile that sparkles
To help us end our worries now.

Living life slowly now
Leaving all the haste now.
I walk along on a graceful pace
Wishing you had been here now.

The present appears foggy now
Dreams become so real now.
Smiling besides me you appear
Our future I sense surreal now.

Bring along your kin now
I shall cheer them too now.
Don’t bother alone so much
Think of me by your side, now.

Life has been a misery now
Sorrows just surround me now.
Leaving you in your world
I feel it, as a mistake now.

I wait to meet you now
Sooner, that moment, appears now.
In your memories shall I reside till then
That’s where I love to dwell now.

me against you

My looks defy my self
My acts defy their meaning
Standing away from the crowd
I observe the world, spinning.
Crazy that it may sound
Crazier it actually is
Evaluating the revolving world
Which moves on, without a hiss.
Looking drugged
Sounding doped
I just hang along
In this worldly wisdom soaked.
Silencing decency
Practicing insane regency,
Give a toss to this world
Rolling on, like a stupefying agency.
Hollering with a grin
Smiling on this carnal sin,
I move along dazed
Throwing the world in a bin.
If you wanna come along
If you wanna join in it,
Throw down all the rules
Of this world, which smells like s**t.
Young guns that we are
Firing at will that we do,
Who cares what you think
What most can you do?

reason

Does every act of ours
Have a reason behind?
Can not there be things
With nothing to bind.

What makes us work
What makes us all go?
Is it just a thought
Or we swim along a flow?

Why has the mind so much to think
Why I have got so much to brood?
Where is all this getting along
Am I not there, where earlier I stood?

What can be the reason of this
Is it just a season for this?
Making me wonder all around
I scamper for a piece of bliss.

When would the mind blend in
And give away to my heart.
When I shall I not be worried
And let my troubles depart.

Each act of mine I see
Each word of mine I hear
Trying to get its reason
Every breath today, sheds a tear.

to AB

Beauty of each kind

Runs around aplenty,

Caught in this maze here

I struggle to refrain this dainty.

Its all for you, O dear,

That I am fighting this sin,

The pleasure that I can get

is not worthy of your chagrin.

I wish my prayers work

God protects me from such vices,

I do not want to loose you

And for that, shall pay hefty prices.

Live with gala and cheer

in that distant land of yours,

I promise to come one day

and bring you happiness,pure.

Stop being worried about me

Stop being bothered by what i say.

I have given you my heart

And that is what matters, come what may.

Only ye shall have my heart,

Rule, only ye shall do.

No damsel can now allure me

After I have fallen just for you.

life in mumbai

Hi all,

Did I mention you as to how I am doing in mumbai and what I am doing in mumbai? Well, I guess I havent had the chance to say this. So I take this chance to explain all of you as to what my life has taken in, in this vibrant city called Mumbai.

Mumbai lies on the west coast of India and is the capital of the state of Maharashtra. But it is famous as the commercial hub of India. With a staggering population of 12,691,836 it comes as the second highest urban population in the world, behind only to shanghai, china. It houses one of the most recalled building structures in india, the BSE. Also, the architectural flora of the city includes gems like The Taj hotel, Gateway of India, the dargah of Haji Ali, etc. It is the city of cinema and the corporates. Its said that if you can rule this city then you can rule India (dont say this in front of delhites who think its their call). Many people come to mumbai, to earn their livelihood and as I have experienced in my short stay, the city does welcome them. Though the arms are not open and there is no smile on the face, but the city does let you in. Afterall, it knows that it is the finest example of "survival of the fittest". Either you can surf through the mazes of problems that it throws at you or get lost, never to be found.

If there is something you find unique about this city is that it is formed of many ecosystems. Or in the parlance of more scientific nerds, its the city formed of ghettos. Not just divided on the basis of religion but also on the basis on language (gujarati, hindi, marathi, tamil and bengali being the principle ones), on the basis of the region of origin(west, east or south india), etc. Also, its quite contrasting considering the proximity to gujarat, that the city has no hatred towards one religion. Its easy to find muslims living peacely in a hindu dominated place and even have a mosque of their own. It does signify a lot for the tolerance of this city. I guess, its just that the city is too busy to even give a thought as to who is the neighbour.

It has been a week and I have now formed a real fine routine. A guy who found so hard to get up at 9 in the morning, now gets up at 6 30 and is able to reach his office by 9.I guess thats the beauty of this city. It can get the best out of any ambitious guy without even giving the hint of it. Well, as usual, as some habits die hard, I do not have my breakfast. The office has a vending machine and if there was something in this place which reminds me of heaven, I think its this machine. Inside the cubicle, the world of my own, takes breath. The A/c blows with relentless care and never even gives a thought as to who I am and untill when shall i be. It kind of signifies the attitude of this city - cold, chilling, to the point and precise. Afterall, "time nai hai na bhai". I sit all day, surf the web, find out the relevant info that is required and then in the end leave. I have lunch in a mess which is much better than the same thing that out college runs. Nice food and back to my office. Each day I try and find people to whom i can send in mails and get in touch. Yes, that is which is motivating me a lot.

At the end of the day, around 4 30, i start the ardous journey back home. Take a bus and as happens most of the time, I sleep in the bus and the conductor wakes me up at andheri. And then, i just hurry up to the flat and drop in the bed as soon as it can. Evenings are eagerly awaited as by then Vikas is back and we take the rounds of the neighbourhood, either for food or some other thing the emerging Halan-Tyagi household needs.

Thats the normal day of mine though there are those similarly wonderful weekends I go home.

I hope you had the time and the courage to read my crap,

would do something which mumbai never does, say "Thanx".

Take care and have fun,

j.

had you been here

Had you been here

We would have had so much of fun,

We could have danced along the beach

From morning till the setting sun.

Had you been here

I would have carried you along.

To see this vibrant city

Which seems to be placed oblong.

Roaming along the streets

Juggling through the crowd.

I would have declared to all

That you only make me so proud.

Holding hard your hand

Each time being scared to loose you.

We could have fared here together

No need for me to miss you.

Since you are there

I just keep dreaming all day.

That had you been here

I would have had nothing to say.

The great divide

It has been a stuff of the legends.

The great disparity that is shown between the lives of those living in the cosy cities and those in the rustic villages. And nothing is more prominent than the difference in the healthcare facilities. One where the private sector rules the roost and another whether the government is fighting hard against the most elementary of diseases. Let me try and evaluate this divide, afterall that is what somewhere I aim to bridge in the long run.

The rural areas of India are predominantly served by the government-run PHCs and CHCs. Yes, those dilapidated buildings with just a coat of whitewash. These centres cater to the very heart of India, the most primal needs in healthcare. Ranging from childbirth to malaria, these centres epitomise the courtsey that the government extends to the rural population. And this where the courtsey also ends. Managed by phantoms (afterall these centres are plagued by absenteeism of the doctors and the staff members), we cannot much criticize the setup. Afterall it caters to at least 60 odd percent of the population of India. But you just cant help brooding as to why it lies in its present stage. A lil consideration on the part of the government, after taking such pains to establish such a wide network, would go a long way in helping the health-related issues of india. A lil more efficient management.

Contrary to this, see the city life. It has changed from the days of the ubiquitous compounder to the stage of implementation of ERP softwares. From the days when it took days for lab reports to come, to the days where they can be obtained online. The health sector is in for some huge reforms. The players who are bringing in such change are none other than corporates. Think of corporates like wockhardt, ranbaxy, apollo, etc who are employing the skills of management which have helped them grow so efficiently in their respective fields, now being implemented in hospitals. Concepts like just-in-time (JIT), Six sigma, etc have found their way from the manufacturing shop-floor to the operating table. It does represent what lies ahead.

See, i think we have just covered the spectrum here. The darkest side lies in the heartland of rural and some parts of lower socioeconomic strata in the cities, while the other side in the cities is glowing with all its might.

I dont know what disturbs me. This unequal distribution of facilities to serve up my basic right of being healthy or my inability to bridge the divide. But there is something which is disturbing me. I wish and pray that by the time I leave this planet, I must have made these segments more closer than before.

till sometime later,
from office,
this is,
javed.

at work

o god,

see now i am in an office.

Yep, thats what it is....

The A/c blowing at full force, the lights kind of tuned in to appear a lil dim, the environ having a bluish hue and a full time net access on my laptop just give the testimonials for the fact that I am in somplace I dont belong. A very formal setting. Yeah, but the good thing is that the job that has been entrusted to me is a very fascinating peice of work. Something that suites the taste that an idiot like me percieves and something which I would love to give my best.

Well, my project invloves dealing with feasibility study and its a very exploratory stuff. I would be meeting doctors, CEOs and patients, as goes the trend till now. So, let me keep my fingers crossed and arms open to welcome this change in my life.

Would write as and when i get time,

till then,

j