Wayfarer's window!

Lajpat Nagar in Delhi used to be familiar, for its sights, sounds, smells and taste. Staying in a hotel in the vicinity tempted me to visit some old eating joints. My food memory cells, which I am sure line my belly walls rather than my brains, were delighted to be woken up by familiar delicacies.  Dolma aunty's momos in Central market are as famous and familiar as they used to be.  The Tibet Kitchen in Amar Colony is shifted to a more seedy location, but the Tingmo and Shapte, carries the unmistakable old taste, a mix of fresh Tibetan air with the dusty, smoggy and spicy by-lanes of Delhi. A painting of a young Tibetan girl is perhaps the only pleasant part in the restaurant's ambience, as she looks a bit forlorn and and a bit sorry, but still carries the survival spirit of a Tibetan-in-exile!  The final visit was the Parathewale and the Chur-chur naan wale in Moolchand. Crispy, oily, crunchy! A dip of the naan in the thick black lentil curry and a splash of the curd rai...

 An unfortunate loss at close quarters. A young office staff.  Reminded me of my friend, just out of medical school, 25 years back. We had co-managed and abated two likely deaths due to suicide. A medical student who had taken an overdose of barbiturates and a young man, who came frothing in his mouth with obvious signs of organo-phosphorus (a common insecticide in the tea gardens near by) poisoning. We had fought valiantly in both cases, stayed up the entire nights of their emergency admissions, undertook gastric lavage and gave them the recommended treatment, till both came out of danger.  Little did I know, that my friend himself was undergoing emotional disturbances and mental anguish due to problems at home. Unfortunately he knew the exact dosage of phenobarbital that would prove fatal.  Like in this case, the young staffer knew exactly when no one would be around, in his crowded two roomed home.  What compels a person to take his life? How can those around...