Medical Facility in West-Is it really great?

Last Saturday, my son got injured while Skiing. He had injured his Knee.He was given Primary treatment at the Ski Resort in Lake Tahoe. On Monday on his return to Bay Area, he consulted Orthopedist, who examined him and told him Dos and Donts and asked him to wait for 2-3 days for MRI Scan appointment and take his appointment next week with MRI report. Then he will decide on line of treatment and Surgery-Arthroscopy- will be scheduled after obtaining consent from TPA/HMO. So its wait for about 3 weeks before any treatment can be started. If he were to be in Mumbai, his MRI scan with report would be available by Sunday or Monday evening and Surgery if needed could have been done by Wed/Thursday. Why there is so much delay in initiating definate treatment in USA?. When one is paying so much for treatment and when Medical Insurance Premiums are so high, why there should so much delay? Besides it is so costly so no one can afford to pay it without Medical Insurance. There HMO/TPA decide everything and would like to pay the least amount. Prescription drugs are costly and may not be part of your insurance cover. So one is denied effective medicine and given cheap medicine,which is less effective. At the base of this problem is very high cost of Medical treatment. We in India are slowly moving in that direction. With all these Corporate, state of the Art hospitals, treatment will be world class, but at a cost which only few and those covered by Mediclaim can afford. There is Trickle down effect and Private small Hospitals and Nursing Homes increase their charges. After few years Insurance companies already running in loss on Mediclaim Insurance will start cutting cost and will start Deductions and co-payments. Then we will be in the same situation as USA.-PK

Indias Neighbour---USA

In a very interesting article in TOI, M J Akbar points out that India's closest neighbor is not from the SAARC countries and definitely not Pakistan. Its U.S. of A. How true !!.Though we are on other side of the Globe, we know more about USA than about any of our neighbours. We know about American Politics, are avid followers of Presidential race, heard candidates debating,supported Obama since Jan 2007, Inaugaration watched on TV-though it was almost 1 am. American movies are regularly realeased simultaneously in India.Anjelina and Brad Pitts are household names here. Friends,Baywatch,Sienfeld, Jay Leno and so many TV programmes are watched daily by thousands.They must be having good TRP as can be judged by number of commercials shown during their telecast. Most urban and many rural homes must be having some relative in Amerika. Our shops are full of US brands -made in S E Asia,China. Today our children have moved to US -either for studies or Job- so we keep watch on recession & job loss in US and stimulus package. Slowly Politically and ideologically we are moving closer to US.

Compare to this, we hardly know anything about Pakistan. I get many Pakistani TV chennels,but hardly watch any.Dont know Names of Pakistani Film/TV stars.Singers are known in India as they regularly sing for Bollywood movies and their songs are routinely lifted. Except for the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan,other politicians are not well known in India. Cricketers and Hocky Players are known as Pakistan is our bitter rival in these games. Pakistani authors, Bloggers,Books,Magazines are not known. I remember meeting Pakistani couple in Sylvan Park,Mountain View. We were visiting our respective sons. Unfortunatelly we could hardly converse as we had no common topics. We talked about old Hindi movies and Music. To imagine that just 60 yrs ago we were one country , one family,having common past,culture, life style,Language, sharing everything! Today we are neighbours but almost half a World apart.---PK

Slumdog Millionaire

I was not surprised by the Box Office failure of S.M. Fox released it with 300 prints( more prints in Hindi dubbed version.) Its a Multiplex movie and more effective in original English version. This once again proves that dubbed versions normally dont do well. Besides its storyline was neither new nor interesting for Bollywood viewer, though its a novelty for foreign viewer. Traditionally movies on slums of Mumbai have not done well in India. Usually they were from Parallel low Budget cinema and had tough time finding a distributor. SM was no exception. True to life movies on Mumbai slums or realities of life in Mumbai doesnt attract upcountry audience and Mumbaikar refuses to pay for what he sees everyday free. All the incidents in SM are part of everyday life for us in Mumbai and doesnt merit even a second glance.

I liked SM for its storyline and format. Life-rather underbelly- in Mumbai was depicted as life expiriences Jamal had. Storyline is taut and is based on true incidents in Vakola-Dharavi slums-playing Cricket on Mumbai airport Airstrip was routine affair. It reminded me of Classic Tom Hank movie "Forrest Gump". FG depicted life and times in US between 1950 and 1990. For my generation it was like that period passing by and we, together with Forrest watching from the sideline. My children(born in 80s) couldnt understand why its a classic movie. This format is very effective as Docudrama, provided the storyline is good.SM has this advantage. Its going to be Oscar deluge for SM. But Rehmans music score in SM does not merit award. He has given much better music in Indian movies-especially in 90s.--PK

Today while shopping,my daughter's Cell phone was stolen/lost. Between my wife and daughter, this was 3rd phone stolen within a year. Ladies have this real problem. Men can keep his cell phone in Shirt/Trouser pocket or can use Cell phone pouch fixed to the belt. But for ladies ,its either carry it in the purse with all the difficulties of retreiving it when phone rings or carry it dangling from the neck- real Eyesore ! All the Fashion designers have not given thought to this problem and provide good solution.