Squeamish in the Name of Science

OH this is really liked :)) have not been able to pinpoint why. i think it is the down to earth nature of the subject matter and the way u just went home crying and vommited your dinner. all people i meet, and have in the past met assume that i will be a doctor. unless i get my PhD. i dont see that happening. Enuff with the doctors and engineers south asia! more writers needed.

rizvi.

A lovely poem. More writers are needed all over the world; who heal with a metaphor. A beautiful thought indeed.

Thanks

Your poem was a lovely read. Thanks

As far as I am concerened, I do not quite count become a professional (i.e a doctor) as becoming a ``scientist``, I think a doctor has far more in common with other people like lawyers or managers, than with a scientist or an artist. A biologist or a researcher has more of a scientific spirit than just a doctor. A scientist, like an artist, deals with abstractions and not with a taught and classified application of a method. An artist or a scientist is an artist because she/he necessarily requires the presence of creativity in their work. That is not usually true of professional fields. You may, however, find rare individuals, who belong to a formulaic professional field, but still are able to contribute new ideas to society.

I think that the ``science-art`` dichotomy, as understood in our culture, is quite wrong.

Each person to his vocation. Parents impose their hopes and desires onto their children. Sometimes children follow those desires and sometimes the don`t but whenever the outcome is success, it become irrelevent whether it was due to parental role model / desired role model or a person`s innate love for his vocation.

Best of luck in your endeavour.

Its Beauty-full! I really love your articles - now i see why .

Hi Bina,

I will not pass my judgement on ``what if you were a doctor``, although judging from your creative writing, you probably would have been a darn good one, but you know what, probably you would not have been any happier!! Best wishes.

Bina, this ``from-the-heart`` poem passed me by somehow. I just came across it.

I do agree with you. Being a physician is certainly over-hyped and glorified in our culture. Also, very few physicians are actually scientists, if you define science as a discipline that seeks to create and advance new knowledge. Mostly doctors just see patients. They `manage` patient care. Its nothing fancy.

On the other hand, I don`t see the dichotomy that you see between being a doctor and being a writer. One can certainly be both. There have been many world-class writers who also happened to be doctors. Somerset Maugham, Gertrude Stein, Abraham Verghese come to mind. There are numerous others. Writing well, in fact, is a huge part of modern academic medicine.

Anita

Your article brought an old familiar jaab in the left side of my heart. How many of us, do you imagine, were sent to college armed with the responsibility of fullfilling our parents` dreams of medical school???

Ironically, how many of us were strong enough to pursue OUR dreams?? I find it amazing that most of my fellow compadres happen to choose writing as their mark in this world. I find that through writing I can escape, challenge, rebel, accept and defend my identity. Unfortunatly, the cultural

baggage is so heavy, that I find it almost impossible to make the leap from the literary reality to the actual one.

A friend of mine, is also a writer, pseudo medical student. I see so many of us caught up in this web of culturally-imposed images of superiority. My friend`s parents are so absorbed with climbing the social ladder that they have devoured the gentleness and charismatic charms of their beautiful daughter. Writing seems to be her only salvation, her only medium of self-redemption.

Why is it if an intelligent desi girl decides to choose writing, journalism, law or psychology as a career, it is looked down upon? We are we so quickly ridiculed as wasting our time and talent? Is medicine the only career choice for women? How many of us have wounds of our own, that we cannot heal in fear of disrupting the cultural balance that we are forced to succumb to in the name of family, respect and honor.

Since the time I was five years of age until my second year in college, I always wanted to be a physician. I loved medicine, and still do. However, there came a time when I realised that it was not my choice to become a physician, but rather my duty to become one. I had to maintain an old tradition in my family that dates back to four generations.

From that point on, I refused to continue to tread along the pre-med path. But, at the same time, I have yet to fully embark on my own journey towards redemption.

And than, I ask.... why is it so important for us to be accepted? Isn`t that what we are asking for? And, than again, why shouldn`t we ask for it?

Why can`t we be respected and accepted for who we are? Why must certain initials accompany our titles in order for us to be taken seriously?

actaully, I think I have written more than I had initially intended. I have introduced more topics than I can safely contend with here and as a result, I have created somewhat of a puzzling effect for the reader. My humble apologies.

My compliments to the writer, BRAVO!