To My Walking Ground

For twenty years in my medical profession, from entry into medical college until settling into practice, I categorized human beings into two neat groups: doctors and non-doctors. Someone who is not a doctor is either a patient or a potential patient in the future. Then, by accident, I joined a walking group. The group slowly expanded to around fourteen people, and apart from a couple of doctors, the rest belonged to the other broad category of non-doctors.

It was then that I realized that a world existed outside my medical world—a bigger, brighter, and perhaps more complicated and thrilling one. I learned from an English professor about the intricacies of pedagogy and how students from vernacular mediums struggle with English when they come to college. We have two brothers in the jewelry business who keep regaling us with the intricacies of the gold trade. We also wonder why jewelers rarely commit suicide or murder despite having free access to the most popular weapon of murder mystery authors—cyanide. Connected to politics, the two inform us about the shenanigans during elections, which makes us firmly conclude that democracy is not definitely the best model for governance.

How many have a music teacher as a walking partner who is also a vastu and astrology expert? He sets up the time for almost all occasions involving the members and also looks at the horoscopes in deciding marriages. How many have a history professor who would answer the most probing questions with deeply backed research? For some time, we had a person who was working for the Road Transport Corporation. He left us after a couple of years on transfer, but in the meantime, we learned enough to run a bus depot independently and know that there is a world of technology involving tyres. In the exponential knowledge that one gains in a fun manner, we are now aware through an excise inspector that the governments actually set targets for alcohol sales to generate revenue.

And then there are people in the bio-wastage business. I never even wondered how the waste at the hospitals disappeared. Apparently, there is a huge mechanism that involves multiple layers of organization, starting with transport drivers and ending with politicians. An intricate and complex system, it can boggle the average mind. One runs a school for children, and it is not an easy life.

The stress involved for the teachers when students get injured, sick, or fail makes for some interesting stories. Apart from all that, we have free access to the juiciest gossip involving any celebrity across time and space. The juicier, the better.

And the conversations happen with juice vendors, vegetable sellers, teachers, lawyers, police officials, artists, liquor transporters, hostel wardens, excise officials, government employees, labor officers, cloth merchants, retailers, pharmacists, journalists, distributors of all kinds, mobile company employees, engineers, and so on. Each with a unique perspective, each giving knowledge of a slice of the wide world, but combined acting as shock absorbers on the bumpy road of life. The broad rule of generally excluding religion and politics from conversations ensures one hour of absolute sunshine, laughter, and an easy throwback to college times. A human stops his mental growth at around 25 years of age. Only old friends and a group like this (walking, cycling, swimming, whatever) unmask this age; otherwise, the mental age keeps pace with the physical age. Well, it is our favorite group theory, and we do not want daggers drawn on this.

One goes on with their own life following the golden hour. The rest of the day, especially as a doctor, I rarely see so much laughter. Gentle smiles, yes, but uproarious laughter would certainly be scary. Of course, in times of personal need, a few would automatically turn up for making decisions and general unburdening. Bargaining with the people involved in a marriage function can tax the most stoic, with everyone trying to squeeze the maximum. It is a divine blessing when such friends are around.

The bliss of life comes from personal or professional achievements, of course. However, one hour with a diverse group of people where caste, religion, and divisions of any kind do not matter is hugely responsible for a healthy physical and mental life. It does not prevent physical old age and illness, as life is finally a terminal disease. But it blesses the mental age of a young, happy teenager without a care in the world. It also fuels the rest of the day with great energy and passion. So, to the world out there, and especially the doctors, get out of your houses for an hour every day and realize that there is a still more beautiful world out there beyond your own that is happy to include you. I lose a little by way of free consultations, but the gain is infinitely greater!

Dr. Gopal Pingali is..