an itinerant observer

The manager behind the hotel counter in Lagos looked up, paused for a second, and then flashed her lovely smile. It was not the polite, transactional kind. She remembered me. I remembered her. “Welcome, Dr. Mian. Welcome, Sir!”. There was a familiarity to it now. It had moved beyond routine. Over the next few minutes, between check-in formalities, she told me more of her story. How she had grown into this role. How those early opportunities had come her way - one in particular resonated because the person behind it was well known to me. He also stayed at the same hotel during work trips; during one of which he had quietly opened that door for her to become the manager. She spoke simply about how things had unfolded. These moments had started to matter more to me over time. The repeated trips to Lagos. The same roads from the airport. The congestion curling through the Mainland, Victoria Island, Ikoyi, and Lekki. The faces shifting from familiar to expected. And somewhere alon...

Ready to traverse a landscape rich with human emotion, ethical quandaries, and the quest for meaning amidst chaos? ‘ Poems from the (ER) Pit’ offers a glimpse into this world, not through clinical case studies, but through the visceral medium of poetry. Each poem illuminates diverse facets of emergency care. Through poetry I navigate the emotional, ethical, and philosophical terrains of emergency medicine. This collection, more than a series of poetic expressions, is a call to reflect, to empathize, and to act. It invites you into the heart of emergency care, challenging you to see beyond the clinical to the deeply human(e) side of healing. ******************************************************** In the dim light of dawn, a child’s battle ends, not with triumph, but with silence. This moment, captured in “C’est La Vie” is a stark reminder of emergency medicine's raw reality. The poem serves as a prelude, inviting us to confront life’s precariousness and the profound impact of...

Have you ever been in a situation where you have a final exam coming up and the syllabus is too extensive, the subject too confusing, and the time not enough? You and your friends make jokes about how you guys haven’t studied anything and have a good laugh. After the exam, you make jokes about how you were all going to fail. The result comes out and you’re relieved to know that you guys passed. Great! You find out that one of you has the highest marks in class. You’re happy for your friend but you make fun of him for participating in the “I’m going to fail” banter because he clearly knew a lot more than the rest of you. But you also find out that one of your friends actually did fail. Would you make fun of him? Objectively speaking, failure is great fodder for comedy but something doesn’t feel right in kicking someone who is already down. It feels unethical. It is also possible that there are bullies in your class who do make fun of your friend for failing the exam. I...