Do you believe in short-cuts?

Morning walk is supposedly the best exercise that doesn’t cost a penny and helps you out with the effective mobility of all your body joints, better blood circulation and increased vitality.

Prior to visiting the religious shrines Badrinath and Kedarnath, I had consistently tried to increase the duration of my walk to be able to cope up better with the otherwise well-laid path of the hilly terrain! (Picture shows family eager to start the voyage).

When we go, say, to a nearby park for a morning walk, the idea is to walk as much as we can. But we seem to have become so used to taking short-cuts in almost every walk of life that while covering the inner boundary of the park, we turn to extreme right while taking a right turn forgetting that we in India traditionally follow the `keep to the left’ rule.

This type of short-cut (that reduces our walking distance) is not only against the goal of walking `as much as you can’ but also puts the person coming from the opposite direction in trouble.

So, the next time while embarking on our voyage to morning walk let us ask ourselves, “Do I really need to take a short-cut?”

Dr. Narendra Kumar
OptometryToday@gmail.com

Avoid the `easier' approach!

I would like readers of the eye care blog to go through the above editorial from Vol. 36, No. 1, March 2010 issue of Optometry Today quarterly journal.

Dr. Narendra Kumar

Optometry course announcement

The Registrar, Student Registration Division, IGNOU, Maidan Garhi, New Delhi 110068 invites applications for BSc (Hons) Optometry and Ophthalmic Techniques (of School of Health Sciences) and Diploma in Optometry (of Centre for Para-Medical Sciences) courses, at a Regional Centre (say at F 634-636 Palam Extension, Ramphal Chowk [Near Sector 7 Dwarka], New Delhi 110045, Ph 25088939).

Dr. Narendra Kumar
OptometryToday@gmail.com

Veterinary Ophthalmology Conference

May 13-16, 2010 are the dates for the European Veterinary Ophthalmology Conference, Ireland, covering the topics of Eyelids, Large animal ophthalmology, Cataract surgery and Hereditary eye diseases. For further information, contact info@evo2010.com

Dr. Narendra Kumar
Editor, Optometry Today
OptometryToday@gmail.com

Make the accompanying child busy while attending to your patient

Recently while attending a young contact lens patient whose child was not sitting at one place, I asked the kid about his interest in drawing and handed him a writing pad and a pen to draw something. I could then concentrate on the patient while the child was busy in the creative work illustrated here!

Dr. Narendra Kumar
ophthacare@gmail.com

Is this an `N’ or an inverted `Z’?

Many years ago I ordered my golden ring with the letter `S’ (to signify the first letter of the name of my wife Sheela) inscribed on it. But, since `S’ is also the first letter of the names of my three sister-in-laws, I changed the inscription to `N’. My co-brother jokingly borrowed my ring and showing the inverted `Z’ told my father-in-law that he got it as a present from Zenith at Khopoli where he worked as an engineer! So, we see the answer depends on the way we look at things.

Although optometry was introduced in India way back in 1958, not only public awareness of the term is highly lacking, even many ophthalmologists address an optometrist as an optician. And, step-motherly treatment meted out to the primary eye care profession by the Government in delaying the introduction of legislation to regulate its practice is supposedly the biggest drawback in creating this wrong perception.

Dr. Narendra Kumar

What’s this?

Ever since joining Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, as Refractionist in the year 1962, my life revolved round optometry by way of attending to a never-ending stream of patients, helping establish Indian Optometric Association, taking up the publication of Optometry Today in the interest of the betterment of the profession, studying for a degree course in (ayurvedic) medicine to broaden the sphere of my working, and ultimately settling down in private ptactice as a part of the clinic run by my ophthalmologist son Maneesh (ophthacare@gmail.com).

But, there’s certainly life as well beyond optometry! Encouraged by my long-forgotten passion for art, coupled with the family’s interest in `Dance India dance’ programme on TV, I leisurely tried out my hand on a creation making use of `waste’ strands of threads and glass-paint. Now, can someone help me out with its title?

Dr. Narendra Kumar