Cell 2 Soul: The Humane Health Care Blog

Two Good Samaritans in the Himalaya

I was suffering from what the famous Himalayan explorer, Tilman termed as ‘mountaineer’s foot’, the inability to put one before the other! The stones and boulders were loose and the moraine walking difficult. The sun had disappeared behind the clouds and the atmosphere looked threatening. Dark clouds were gathering on the highest mountains on Earth. The rumble of avalanches could be heard in the distance. I was on my way back from the Everest Base Camp, walking fast on the Khumbu Glacier trying to reach shelter before the snowstorm broke. A few snowflakes were beginning to fall. The temperature had dropped by around 10 degrees Celsius and the wind was picking up. My body temperature was also beginning to drop...  Download Two Good Samaritans

Ravi Shankar is an occasional contributor to Cell 2 Soul.  He is a medical professor who spent over twelve years teaching in the Himalayan country of Nepal and enjoyed trekking in the wonderful hills. He is at present a faculty at the Xavier University School of Medicine, Aruba, Kingdom of the Netherlands.  Photos by Dr. Ravi Shankar.  You may contact him at: Shankar PR

Marginal Notes: The last time I saw Paris

 
"Paris through a window" by Marc Chagall, 1913

In those days Paris was color blind.  Americans who had served in the European theatre in the First World War were eager to return to Paris.  These expatriates rejected their parochial roots and set out to find themselves in the big city.  Paris was where it was at.  more»

 

Brian T. Maurer has practiced pediatrics as a Physician Assistant for thirty years.  His "Marginal Notes" column appears periodically in the Cell2Soul Blog. The title "Marginal Notes" is taken from a quote by Henry David Thoreau: "I love a broad margin to my life."

Marginal Notes: Two Rivers, Two Towns

 

Manhattan skyline at night

That evening, after dinner, I stood on the second level of the Chart House restaurant and looked out at the city.  To the north the George Washington Bridge spanned the blackness; to the south lay the Verrazano Narrows, while directly across the water the city sat, sketched out in a thousand points of light:  clusters and strings of precious stones, like rich jewels in an Ethiop’s ear—brilliant diamonds, amber topazes, blue sapphires, red garnets.  more»

 

Brian T. Maurer has practiced pediatrics as a Physician Assistant for thirty years.  His "Marginal Notes" column appears periodically in the Cell2Soul Blog. The title "Marginal Notes" is taken from a quote by Henry David Thoreau: "I love a broad margin to my life."

Marginal Notes: Nantucket Bound

How Melville's Ishmael got from Manhattan to New Bedford is unclear; but for the record I drove to Hyannis, taking the Bourne Bridge across the Cape Cod Canal and pulling into the Yarmouth lot shortly before eleven o’clock on a crisp clear Friday autumn morning.  The shuttle driver dropped me off at the dock just in time for me to pay my passage on the high-speed ferry to Nantucket.

On board the M/V Iyanough I elbowed my way through the mass of humanity in the main cabin to the upper deck, where I found an open spot on the fantail.  I stood at the head of the port ladder and looked out over the harbor as the boat’s engines kicked in.  Slowly we backed out of our berth and turned toward the channel that led to the open sea.  more»

 

Brian T. Maurer has practiced pediatrics as a Physician Assistant for thirty years.  His "Marginal Notes" column appears periodically in the Cell2Soul Blog. The title "Marginal Notes" is taken from a quote by Henry David Thoreau: "I love a broad margin to my life."

Marginal Notes: El Zorro

 

As we descended the narrow road past the grassy fields hemmed in by thick brush and blackberry bushes, we saw two massive horses grazing, each lifting its head periodically to look at us.  I noticed something moving in the tall grass by their haunches—a furry animal built low to the ground, brownish grey with a long bushy tail.

“Look!” I said.  “Un zorro!”

“Are you sure?” my wife asked, straining on tiptoes to have a better look.  “Yes, it certainly does look like a fox, doesn’t it?”  >>more

 

Brian T. Maurer has practiced pediatrics as a Physician Assistant for thirty years.  His "Marginal Notes" column appears periodically in the Cell2Soul Blog. The title "Marginal Notes" is taken from a quote by Henry David Thoreau: "I love a broad margin to my life."

Marginal Notes: El Tío Nayo

We enter the narrow winding cobblestone streets of the port of Cariño and weave our way up the inclines past the fountain in the small plaza. Up above, at the cemetery, the vista opens up. From here you can look down on the red-tiled roofs of the town past the ancient stone wharf across the bay to the Isle of San Vincente and the large expanse of white beach beyond. Off to the left, away to the northeast, the jagged coastline stretches all the way to the punta of Estaca de Bares, the northern most point of Spain. >>more 

Brian T. Maurer has practiced pediatrics as a Physician Assistant for thirty years.  His "Marginal Notes" column appears periodically in the Cell2Soul Blog. The title "Marginal Notes" is taken from a quote by Henry David Thoreau: "I love a broad margin to my life."

Marginal Notes: The End of Something

On either side the mountains rose up from the sea like prehistoric dinosaurs, their jagged peaks draped in torn green blankets where outcroppings of grey rocks broke through.  As I stood there buffeted by the wind, I understood once again why I love this country too much for my own good. >>more

 

Brian T. Maurer has practiced pediatrics as a Physician Assistant for thirty years.  His "Marginal Notes" column appears periodically in the Cell2Soul Blog. The title "Marginal Notes" is taken from a quote by Henry David Thoreau: "I love a broad margin to my life."

Marginal Notes: Streets of Philadelphia

Back in my room on the 14^th floor of the hotel I stood at the window and looked down on the gleaming streets of the city.  I thought about the man I had seen slumped over a makeshift cardboard sign on which was scrawled one word:  “Hungry.”  A tangled mass of black hair emanated from the back of his stocking cap, his coat was marred with grease stains, his ankles showed white between the tattered cuffs of his trousers and the tops of his dirty sneakers.  When I dropped a few coins into the plastic bowl in his lap, he barely stirred. In thirty years the streets of Philadelphia haven’t changed much. >>more

Brian T. Maurer has practiced pediatrics as a Physician Assistant for thirty years.  His "Marginal Notes" column appears periodically in the Cell2Soul Blog. The title "Marginal Notes" is taken from a quote by Henry David Thoreau: "I love a broad margin to my life."

Marginal Notes: Clear Shining After Rain

 

"Susquehanna" Copyright©2004 by Barry Penchansky, M.D.

The cabbie was a small bald man with a thin grey moustache.  I asked him if the weather was always like this in San Diego: clear, pleasant, dry. Yes, he said, always. I asked him if it ever rained. Very seldom, he said.

“This year there is a terrible drought.  We are constantly told to conserve water wherever possible.”

Riding in the back of the cab to the airport, I recalled the lyric, “It never rains in southern California.” Evidently, this year that was true....more

Brian T. Maurer has practiced pediatrics as a Physician Assistant for thirty years.  His "Marginal Notes" column appears periodically in the Cell2Soul Blog. The title "Marginal Notes" is taken from a quote by Henry David Thoreau: "I love a broad margin to my life."