May 15, 2023
MY PASSION FOR CERTAIN COUNTRIES AND THEIR DISPASSIONATE FUTURE
A friend of mine jokingly once asked me: do you choose to fall in love with countries with peculiar problems or does it just happen? Myanmar, for instance. For a…
Stories
Field notes from the road
Medicine, culture, travel, food, healing, and human stories from my archive. Start with a trail, search for a memory, or move by year.
Roads, meals, clinics, and human encounters.Archive into inquiry
These field notes are not only memory. They are the ground from which my new field inquiries begin.
The current inquiry follows one trail through the archive: food culture, metabolic health, Indigenous knowledge, and Suriname.
May 15, 2023
IF YOU WISH TO DIE EARLIER, MIGRATE TO THE USA, I TOLD A GROUP OF FOREIGN ENDOCRINOLOGISTS AT A MEETING
I am fortunate to visit USA to be with the indigenous people of that country and on arrival at JFK or Miami, the first thing that hits you, is the…
Apr 15, 2023
MERIDA MEXICO IS A DREAM I FELT SO ALIVE THERE .. AND THANKFUL FOR FRIENDS ON THIS JOURNEY
Many years ago, during a Psychiatry rotation (the only specialty where the Nurses Assistant knows as much as the Doctor, was my conclusion, even though I would have made a…
Apr 15, 2023
THE CITY OF ANTHROPOLOGISTS COCHIN IN KERALA
The Anthropologists of Cochin when was the last time you visited a town and ran ino a gaggle of anthropologists?? i am talking about the educated class of Cochin in…
Mar 15, 2023
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A DOCTOR WITHOUT BORDERS ON ONE INTERNATIONAL MISSION
When I answer people's query about my imprecise profession, I mention International Medicine, they have visions of me, struggling through tropical rain forests or zones of conflicts in Africa! These…
Mar 15, 2023
IF YOU ARE A FRQUENT FLIER, IT IS GOOD TO HAVE STATUS WITH YOUR PREFERRED AIRLINE. IF YOU DONT TRAVEL OFTEN, DONT WORRY
Since the post-pandemic rush to travel took us to busier airports and congested aircrafts, the idea of having a preferred status has come into focus and also to learn about…
Feb 15, 2023
KUALA LUMPUR. 50 % EATING AND 50% SHOPPING
I have never been to a city where every single available public place is crammed with either tables and stalls set up to sell a wide variety of things or…
Feb 15, 2023
A SLOW JOURNEY TO A JOYFUL DESTINATION. MIAMI TO KL VIA NEW YORK CITY AND TOKIO (AND JAKARTA)
Once you taste the benefits of higher levels of Frequent Flier Status, retaining it becomes a type of obsession. You begin to dream of impractical voyages and excuciating journeys and…
Jan 15, 2023
USA HAS A SERIOUS NUTRITION PROBLEM, IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR RACE WHITE OR BLACK OR LATINO
Original Investigation January 9, 2023 Healthy Eating Patterns and Risk of Total and Cause-Specific Mortality Zhilei Shan, MD, PhD 1,2,3 ; Fenglei Wang, PhD 3 ; Yanping Li, MD, PhD…
Jan 15, 2023
WHAT WOULD AN ANTHROPOLOGIST UNDERSTAND ABOUT THIS PHOTO ?
Look at the photo first without reading the captions. What do you see ? what do you feel ? that would tell more about you than the substance of the…
Jan 15, 2023
THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO FLY FROM PARIS TO ANY WHERE, THIS TIME TO MIAMI, AIR FRANCE, WHAT ELSE ?
My journey began today at the AF Lounge at Terminal 2 E at Paris CDG Charles de Gaulle Airport. I was a little peckish but did not wish to spoil…
Jan 15, 2023
SFAX FISH RESTAURANT IN THE HEART OF TUNIS RUE LE CAIRE
On my first ever visit to Tunis, I was told of rue Le Caire with restaurants and when i went there, i was more than pleased that they were all…
Jan 15, 2023
ALVARO MUTIS, THE TRAMP STEAMER’S LAST PORT OF CALL, MAQROLL EL GAVIERO JUDIO, SOY YO
I am writing this at a largely faded but glorious suite of a hotel built in 1914 in the French Art Nouveaux style in the city of Tunis which once…
Jan 15, 2023
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FEAR AND IGNORE THE LISTS AT THIS TIME OF THE YEAR. .. CHUCK AWAY YOUR NEW YEAR LISTS, BUCKET LISTS ETC
One of the favourite pastimes in the western world is to predict the weather or repeat the drastic prediction made by slender, flimsily clad "certified meterologists" (whatever that is ).…
Jan 15, 2023
A JEWISH RESTAURANT IN THE HEART OF DJERBAHOOD IN ERRIADH IN DJERBA. TUNISIA
It was late evening and felt trying out the Kosher places in Djerbahood in Erriadh, 7 km south of Houmt Souk and within walking distance of the famous El Ghriba…
Jan 15, 2023
THE LONG BUT COMFORTABLE JOURNEY WITH OCCASIONAL STAIRS AT PARIS METRO FROM MIAMI TO QUIBERON
It was a good day to leave Miami. The food, the social isolation and the general dislike of Cubans vs Others, occasionally bordering on hatred was weighing upon me. Got…
Dec 15, 2022
YALDA THE LONGEST NIGHT . LET LIGHT TRIUMPH OVER DARKNESS, IN IRAN AND IN AFGHANISTAN ..INDONESIA ..THE LIST IS LONG
Tonight is 21 december .. it is the night of Yalda .. It is the longest night, full of darkness and this morning when young women went to their universities…
Dec 15, 2022
LIVING THE FRENCH PARADOX, AN EXPLANATION
In 1991, Serge Renaud, a scientist from the University of Bordeaux, coined the term the FRENCH PARADOX, after noting the relatively lower rate of cardiovascular diseases among the French compared…