For the lack of better things to do, I have been visiting my dentist lately. The x-ray machine they had looked like it came straight out of the Starship Enterprise. While I was getting my teeth drilled, even though I was sweating profusely and barely managed to not shit in my pants, I could not but marvel at the fact that I had my tooth drilled and filled in less than an hour! I’m sure we’ll find better, more elegant ways of doing this in the future, maybe we’ll be using nanobots and lasers. But even now what we have felt nothing short of magic. It takes longer to fix my car than to fix my teeth.

When I was in Chennai, there was no hospital near our college. We had to take a bus to another town to go this huge medical college. Whenever one of our friends had to visit, we would make a trip out of it because the food in the cafeteria there used to me amazing. And I’ve always loved the sight of medical students running around with writing pads with their prim white uniforms and soon to be extinguished smiles.

Whenever I’m not too sick, I love visiting the doctor/hospital. It is an experience, a bit like going to the movies or to a museum. I’m fascinated by the machines, the technology, the chemicals, the science. I love all the tests that they do, even when they take blood samples (not scared of needles). It is almost like being a kid again and letting your parents take care of you and fix things for you. To me it is a source of never ending wonder how doctors can figure out what’s wrong with you just by poking you with a few instruments or putting your blood through some test-tubes and adding chemicals to them. What a miracle!