Shades of Green

'I am not different. My reality is just different compared to yours.'  Schizophrenia is a reality.  Today I would like to steal some time from y'all to share with you bits and pieces I have learnt about this condition. Schizophrenia occurs when a mood enhancer chemical aka Dopamine increases beyond the normal level inside the brain and causes the victim to interpret reality abnormally. For example, they may feel someone is always following them and trying to attack them. They live their lives in constant fear of the unknown. This severely affects their day to day lives and relationships. I was witness to one such case of Schizophrenia in a woman of 70 years at our hospital. She held suspicions over her husband claiming that he would do black magic on her and wished for her speedy death. She would request the doctor treating her to take her away from this man and allow her to stay at an old age home where she would feel safer. This patient had been

 Let me be truthful here. I have never loved babies. When my friends went 'Awwwww sooooo cuteeeeee' whenever a baby post came up, my eyes would go rolling upwards wondering what was cute. We joined a team of doctors during their rounds. While they were busy interrogating the newborn mothers, a cute little one's tiny pink feet caught my attention. It kept kicking in the air and this just sent my thoughts wandering. I wondered what my baby would look like. I felt a sudden rush of emotions filled with so much love for this tiny one. What a beautiful experience it must be - 'motherhood'. It must have been such a blissful moment for our parents too. It's natural for us to not realise how beautiful this moment must have been for them because we are so busy growing up and settling our lives. My father often says, 'Njagalk ni kunjaa' (meaning - u r still a baby to us) in the middle of his lectures. This comment was followed by me curling my lips in d