an itinerant observer

Back in 2020, while COVID-19 was peaking during its first wave, as a front-line emergency physician I was frustrated. It was not just my hectic work routine in one of the busiest emergency departments of the megapolis   of Karachi to blame. The unavailability of my gymming routine because of the pandemic-mediated lockdown was adding to my woes. To keep sane, I, therefore, settled into a nice daily home-based exercise routine: 2.5 km of outdoor running followed by 15 minutes of indoor creative movement (aka Zumba-like dancing, to be precise). The fact that I went overboard with my routine and ended up fracturing my right ankle is a story for another day .  After I had reflected enough on my intra-pandemic/post-fracture predicament and my ankle (with a metal screw inside) had healed enough, I resumed my home-based Zumba routine. But this time I added Salsa steps to it so I could make it a high-intensity/low-intensity workout. Although I became quite happy with my workout, I ...

T oday heralds beginning of an era Not of interest to meaningless minds Regardless, time’s story must be told. However, if you believe Time irrelevant, So is yesterday, today, tomorrow Thus, forget past and start afresh, That’s all you’ve got… Why assume present is from past And future you seek does not come your way. An assumption: time was, is, will be linear. If Shams’ past an interpretation, future illusion Then t ime was, is, will always be there Time eternal. **************************************************** Narcissus observes a watch Tiny cogs fitting perfectly A rotation yielding time. Time yielded - timeless With time standing still, time appears limited And yet there is so much; as much required - no more, no less. ***************************************************** Narcissus dances in head-heart, albeit intermittently When he pauses for breath, Agitation That time is limited in a sea of timelessness “What next? Where do we ...

Gullibility was my middle name. Till I met Erdogan.   I met him, or maybe he met me, in Istanbul. I had been in Istanbul for just a few days. I was staying in a small inconsequential hotel close to the famous Istiklal Street. Travel to the most fascinating cities thus far was attributable entirely to Ash. Her work-related conferences would be held in lovely resort-type settings and I was not entirely reluctant to tag along. Given a good book or two, my laptop, and my thoughts, I was pretty much a happy camper.      The trip to Turkey was no different. Within the first few days I had already read my book, caught up on my biomedical research writing, and mulled over the intricacy of life; the requisites of any trip with Ash. By then I had also toured the aromatic Spice Bazaar, the majestic Topkapi Palace, the resplendent Blue Mosque, and the breathtaking Haga Sophia. The descriptors were not mine; they were per the tourist’s guide. On the fateful day, I had n...

The day I started believing in bucket lists coincided with the day salsa became a potential need, not just a want, for me to become adept at. Well…perhaps not salsa initially…it was really the tango that I fell in love with when I first saw it performed by Al Pacino in the much acclaimed ‘the scent of a woman’ .  Over the subsequent decade or so I felt a really strong urge to learn the tango. It remained an urge at most. I never proceeded to the stage of learning it in order to become a tango expert. Perhaps it was the lack of an equally excited partner to get me to actively pursue the most elegant of dances. After all, it does take two to tango. Photo credit: Riaz Khan,  a photographer based in Houston One fine night I was chatting with a friend at a restaurant in Rice Village in Houston. We were discussing ‘ the itinerant observer project’ , a potential book of short stories for which my friend, a freelance photographer, was going to provide a visual piece. We both had our i...

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” . This famous saying attributed to Lao Tzu, founder of Taoism and author of the Tao Te Ching, encapsulates my current understanding of 21 st Century Leadership. For me leadership is a process that is dynamic and ever unfolding; a journey versus a destination; with unexpected (and expected) twists and turns, ups and downs, lefts and rights, advances, retreats, and going around in circles. This essay is an evidence-based approach to contemporary leadership that I synthesized through a recent course.    Comparing the 21 st vs. the 20 th century leader: an overall perspective Listed below are some points that 21 st century leaders need to be cognizant of; points that were neither widely acknowledged nor considered important enough, in the previous century.    ·        Be open-minded and open-hearted; be authentically generous in giving and receiving feedback. · ...