Category: Asia
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The Bengal tiger: Panthera tigris tigris
James L. FranklinChicago, Illinois, United States The Indian subcontinent for millennia provided the ideal “jungle” habitat for the tiger. When the first Europeans arrived in India the animal was ubiquitous. At the close of the nineteenth century, when Kipling wrote The Jungle Books, 100,000 tigers were thought to roam the subcontinent. By 1971, a critical…
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A plastic surgeon’s weeks in lockdown
Neha ChauhanBangalore, Karnataka, India As I tuned in to the announcement on March 24th, 2020 that India would be completely locked down for next three weeks to flatten the curve of coronavirus spread, my heart skipped a beat and then almost sank. I spent a sleepless night trying to understand my reaction of experiencing a…
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Gandhiji on Indianness of health and healthcare (1869–1948)
Dhastagir SheriffChennai, Tamil Nadu, India In 2019, 150 years after Mahatma Gandhiji’s birth, India celebrates his birthday to honor his legacy and his contributions to the welfare of this nation. We remember him with his alluring smile, in loin cloth, shawl, and thin-framed glasses, his attire representing his message to lead a simple life. This…
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Medical doctors in the army of India
Dhastagir SheriffChennai, Tamil Nadu, India “The patriot’s blood is the seed of Freedom’s tree.”– Thomas Campbell India, like many other countries, has doctors serving in the army as well as tertiary care hospitals that provide medical services to the armed forces personnel. It also trains students to become physicians and surgeons to serve as commissioned…
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Of honors lost and honor regained: Indian origin of plastic surgery
Neha ChauhanKarnataka, India “A skilful dissembler may disguise in a degree, the expression of mouth, the hat may be slouched over the eyes and the chin may be hidden in the impenetrable thicket of beard but the nose will stand out and make its sign inspite of all precautions. It utterly refuses to be ignored…
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The curse of the blessing
Medha PandeNainital, India For the wedding of a second cousin, I visited my ancestral village for the first time at the age of twenty-five. The tiny hamlet is in a quaint, expansive valley in the middle Himalayas of Uttarakhand, India. The once prosperous region is struggling under the pressure of out-migration to the plain areas.1…
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Addressing hunger in Tamilnadu
Dhastagir Sultan SheriffChennai, Tamil Nadu, India “There’s enough food on this planet for everyone’s needs but not for everyone’s greed.” – Mohandas Gandhi Around 800 million people suffer from hunger globally, a number that may double by 2050. Chronic hunger creates a vicious cycle of malnutrition, stunted growth, and childhood death before the age of…
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The role of water in Indian culture
Dhastagir Sultan SheriffChennai, Tamilnadu, India Changing patterns of weather and rainfall, past policies regarding water release and storage, and a frequently resultant dry basin have forced the central and state governments of India to engage in conserving water, often looking at ways to adapt ancient and traditional techniques that are simple, reliable, and environmentally friendly.1…
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Death and dignity – a lesson learned from my father
Dhastagir SheriffChennai, Tennessee, India I was working as a professor of biochemistry and as the vice-principal of faculty at the Ambedkar Medical College in Bangalore. It was a welcome change after working in Libya for ten years and I was bubbling with energy and ambition to serve the cause of education. I felt that a…