Roshan Radhakrishnan's Blog, page 32

Indian Politics: Where changing the Label Makes Poison Healthy

There is a drink A that I do not like. I believe it is dirty and makes people sick. I make sure everyone knows I hate drink A. I love drink B. I do everything possible to make people drink drink B. I want the percentage of people drinking drink B to rise till drink A is out of the market entirely.And yes, with time, people realize that drink A is dirty and so switch over to drink B. I am happy. I am winning.
Here is where things get funny. You see, drink B also makes people sick. But...

10 Things your Anaesthesiologist Asks You At Your First Meeting

16 October is World Anaesthesia Day.

This year marks 171 years since the first successful documented anaesthesia was performed for a surgery. And yet, even today, not many know what to expect when they are redirected by their doctor to meet an anaesthesiologist.

Some know I make you unconscious, some come fearful for their lives because they have heard scary tales, some... well, there are a lot of weird and whacky 'somes' to fill the list. One thing that amuses patients during their first...

Student saves a life while waiting for a job interview

College student Wil Stewart was waiting at a coffee shop for a job interview along with other prospective students when a customer began to choke on his food. Seeing the man struggling to breathe, Stewart realized the gravity of the situation and ran up to him, giving him the Heimlich maneuver till the man recovered. 
Wil chose not to mention this incident to his interviewer later on, which was ironic, considering it would have really helped secure his job. You see, he was inter...

When Florence + the Machine sang for a terminal patient at her hospice

Have you heard of an English indie rock band called Florence and the Machine?
No? Well, I hope you watch out for them after this.

In May 2016, teenager Karinya Chen's dream to watch her favourite band seemed so near yet so far. She had tickets to the Florence + the Machine concert being held in her hometown of Austin, Texas but unfortunately, the bone cancer she had been battling with for 6 years had taken a turn for the worse, leaving her frail and bedridden at the hospice.

When Florence f...

Which books/ series would you want your children to read as they start growing up?

The theme of Nostalgia for WriteTribe's #WriteBravely blogging challenge got me thinking of the books I read growing up. Today's children have at their disposal a mobile well before they hit their teens and thus access to literally all sorts of reading material should they choose it. That makes the need to get them to read the right kind of literature really important. 
The list below is purely what got me addicted to literature as I grew up and I am sure there will be more valuable addit...

The neo-Nazi who found redemption thanks to an unlikely friendship

For most of his adult life, 38 year old Micheal Kent has been a neo-Nazi and part of a violent white supremacist group, the swastika tattooed on his chest while in prison a sign of his strong beliefs.

This year, he finally walked into a specialist center and voluntarily got his tattoos removed in a grueling 15 hour procedure. And it is all thanks to an unlikely friendship with his parole officer, Tiffany Whittier... a black woman.



Refusing to hate Kent who discriminated against 'her kind', Whit...

The moving story of Chris Wright and nurse Tunde Hector: When kindness repays kindness #WATWB

In 2014, Chris Wright was driving his family to church when he came across a woman walking in the rain in search of a gas station after her car broke down. Moved by her plight - TunDe Hector had all of $5 in her purse - Chris drove her to a gas station, paid for her gas and gave her all the money he had in his wallet. Overwhelmed, Hector cried as she watched the stranger leave, unable to repay him and never expecting to see him again.

Three years later, in 2017, Chris's mother Judy fell ill. A...

The medical student saving the village that India forgot #SaveRajghat

Dr Ashwani Kumar Parashar is a final year MBBS student from Dhaulpur, pursuing his graduation from SMS Medical College, Jaipur. He is unlike any medical student you have ever met though. 



You see, this 22 year old is doing more than any Indian today to save every human being in Rajghat, the village that India forgot. Over to Ashwani.


Help us understand the Rajghat issue. People know of a Rajghat that is in Delhi and a memorial to Late Sh. Mahatma Gandhi, but there is one more in...

The Things We Want #ShortFiction

PHOTO PROMPT - Kelvin M. Knight
"I want it." the little boy said, licking his lips as he stared at the last slice of bread lying on the plate. His mother's eyes however rested on the hollowed out shape her son had playfully carved into the bread. "I want it too." she replied wistfully, her eyes never leaving the heart within the bread as she stroked the empty spot on her left finger where, a lifetime ago, a wedding ring had rested, blissfully unaware.

Authors note:Linking this post to...

The Chronological Order of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

While talking to a dear friend recently, I was surprised to find that while she knew of most of the characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, she had not had the chance to see all of them. Having started late on the 'Marvel movie fan club', she was understandably lost now, what with a decade of movies to catch up on.

With less than 2 months to go for Thor: Ragnarok (which going by the trailers and under the maverick direction of the hilarious Taika Waititi, looks likely to be an in...