The tiny footprints of an infant on the wet floor of the dense jungle suddenly buoyed the dying hopes of the search crews on the rescue mission for nearly six weeks.

The family had tried to escape to safety from the threats of a cocaine cartel in Colombia. Fate, however, had different designs, and the plane fell like a rock in the dense Amazon jungles. The mother succumbed to injuries after day four but gathered her four children and urged them to live and find safety. Lesly, at 13, suddenly had to become the matriarch and provide for the food and safety of three younger siblings, Cristin being a mere 11 months. Lesly buried her grief; now was not the time. The kids took three pounds of yuca meal and started walking West, following Mom’s orders. Towering trees rising 130 feet from the mushy jungle floor made for dense shadows during the day and pitch dark at night. The thicks of the jungle harbored poisonous vipers, deadly insects, and hungry jaguars. The wind rustled all the time. Lesly was on a mission, and she won’t let her mother down.

On seeing the infant footprint, the machetes started clearing tree branches and bushes with renewed vigor. Lesly heard the approaching rescue as she was collecting fruits and nuts for the younger three and let out a scream of joy. Three exhausted siblings, Soleiny, 9, Tien 5, and Cristin barely 1, lay barely moving close by.
The Dad of the younger two kids put everything in perspective; “we are children of nature. Nature gives us Oxygen and nutrients, and in her safety, we can rest.”

In this land of plenty, as we fight obesity and each other on contrived grievances, existential adversity survived by an infant and little kids teaches us the real meaning of life.

Inspiration, thrive on it.

– Brij

Back home in India, every moment was a tribute to the parents. In my adopted land, in the USA, it was a shock and a discovery that parental love had the confines of a day on the calendar.

I slowly recognized the underlying sentiment; it’s necessary to etch out a day that celebrates the specialness of creators’ love.

Life is a fleeting blessing, and parents a vital link, father the weaker of the two.

Mother is the trustworthy source of love and life.

Our present blessings go back to the universe’s beginning, stellar cycles, supernovas creating elements that made life possible, billions of years of evolution on a rocky planet in a constant fall in the goldilocks gravitational hold of our star, that put the stardust into conscious existence and eventually subliming into the thing called love. This miracle will succumb to transience, taking uncountable trillions of years to scatter into oblivion.

Take a good look.

Permanence is in transience.

Live well.

Rejoice. Cherish. Thrive.

Life is magic.

Happy Father’s Day!

Love

– Brij

June 1st, 2023, marks the end of an era. In September 1999, with great enthusiasm and a unique camaraderie, we opened Bakersfield Heart Hospital. In its nearly 24 years of existence, BHH distinguished itself as a place of excellence and elegance where the sick went to heal. BHH has been our pride, our identity. It has been a temple where we saved thousands of lives and delivered state-of-the-art medicine to those in need. The changing healthcare environment denied BHH continued sustainability as a standalone boutique gem.
Alas, BHH has come to the end of his life cycle. BHH is no more in its original spirit but survives as an AH facility. We at CH will continue to serve our patients’ needs irrespective of the hospital they end up in, but today there is a slight mist in the eyes.

– Brij

Mary Ann Williams frequented her husband’s grave, a Confederate officer from Columbus, Georgia, who fell to the Civil War. Mary Ann decorated the deceased husband’s grave, and her daughter inspired her to lay flowers at the graves of all fallen soldiers. The sentiment caught up in many Southern states and soon came to be commemorated as Decoration Day to honor, mourn and celebrate the dead soldiers.
The practice quickly spread to Northern US; in 1868, John Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic declared it a Memorial Day for all the fallen soldiers, confederate or Union. Memorial Day has survived the “appropriation” charges of some of the leaders in the South. After WW II, Memorial Day became more or less universally accepted over Decorative Day. In 1968, Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday on the last Monday of May to honor all the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country’s good.

As the long weekend occasions, family gatherings, BBQ, and the usual commercial excesses, it ought to compel us to recognize the day’s solemnity.

Mary Ann Williams started a tradition that blurred the divide of the Civil War with a noble tradition that commemorates the sacrifices of all who laid their lives that a grateful nation honors on this day.
As the divisions remerge, this day should also remind us that we are all Americans. Our differences are beneath us, and the bonds that bind us are stronger; if not, we stand to default on the debt owed to the fallen soldiers.

As I remember, I say a silent prayer: Together Better.

– Brij

I went to medical school in 1976 and have been tested innumerable times for nearly five decades to affirm a threshold of competence. The testing preceded medical school and is a subliminal part of every patient encounter. Patients have the right to be comfortable with their quality of care. Any deviation from that covenant can defile the fundamental rule of medicine; the sacred Hippocratic Oath: First, do no harm. The notion of competence seems to be in a state of disrepair, and merit is losing its relevance. We are still struggling with a parallel experiment dubbed Modern Money Theory that proclaims government can print to prosperity; it surely ignites inflation and guts the toils of hard-working. A mulish submission to magical ideology and distribution of free money to influence elections can win a battle and lose the war.
Some amongst us are fiercely determined to wreck all metrics that measure merit and underpin the nation’s upward trajectory. From high school SAT exam to dilution of academic criteria for college admission, substantially corroded by DEI requirements, to hollowed-out Next Gen bar exams and more, is a fatalistic attempt to erode America’s pre-eminence. I lack the insights of the anti-meritocracy crowd to appraise their beliefs, but I do see the precipice they are pushing the next generation to.
On top of that, many of us are firm in our convictions, hold irreconcilable differences, and stand against each other.

Let’s contrast this with the Chinese Communist Party’s vision. CPP, through a generational effort, has homogenized syllabi with an emphasis on merit and STEM. CPP has also essentially solidified most of the population in a single-minded nationalistic dedication.

The much-anticipated freedom in China as an offshoot of prosperity failed to materialize, and the Chinese society, for now, has settled in for relative prosperity against tumultuous freedom.

It’s a simple equation: ill-prepared and divided against rigorously prepared and united. The superpower stature stands shaky for us if we don’t course correct.
Job fitness has to be a universal and continuous requirement. We need a Captain Sully if the plane has to land in the Hudson River. Even Michael Jordan can’t find a berth as a player at his present age in NBA. As faculties build and strengthen from birth to adulthood, they inevitably decline in later years before eventuating in a final exit. We need fine-tuned, external, and transparent processes that measure job fitness. Most of us concur with this basic premise of fitness but can act as a judge and jury when assessing personal fitness. The self-assessment gets inherently biased because a concomitant cognitive decline with age can often cloud an impartial judgment.

On multiple occasions, I have had to carry the difficult conversation with my senior colleagues to let go of the scalpel. It’s a death-like experience akin to letting go of the car keys, but it saves lives.
Recently, I watched the senior Senator from California, with blatant evidence to the contrary, state that she is still fit for the job. I do not doubt that she believes it, mark that as exhibit one against self-assessment. We as a nation have to decide whether we let cognitively extinguished and physically impaired stubbornly demand persisting in self-service at the country’s expense. Similarly, questions abound about job fitness for a Senator from Pennsylvania and a Congressman from New York across the party lines.

We know the answer, its time we find a way to implement it.

Ageism, generally speaking, is a pejorative slur against a particular age group, like hello boomer. Irrespective of the heightened sensitivities of a specific age group, a job holder has to demonstrate the vigor and competence the job demands.

It is especially true regarding the Commander of the US military and leader of the free world, incumbent or the next. The good of the nation can not be subservient to the ambition of a few who have a hard time letting go.

If not, in the spirit of DEI and prevailing standards of merit, I want to play as the center in 4th quarter of 7th game in the NBA finals.

Merit anyone?

– Brij

Brij –

As I prepare for my new position as Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, I’ve been reflecting on my time as Chancellor of the Kern Community College District. I wanted to share this video from a speech I made last summer for Women’s Equality Day.

In it, I talk about the importance of Early College, as well as some of the issues facing women in higher education. While there has been progress since I made these remarks last August, there is still work to be done in ensuring equality and equity for our students and our leaders in education.

– sonya

It’s been a consensus cup. The world has prayed for Messi to win this one to match his laurels. Argentina, now you can cry tears of joy. The trickle on the cheeks is adorable.

But Messi isn’t just Argentina. Messie is dignity personified. Hence a Messie cup. It’s hard to imagine if, at heart, even France wasn’t rooting for the little giant.

After all, Mbappe already has a trophy. And when Mbappe walked out of his somnambulism, his genius threatened Messi’s life’s worth. I wouldn’t say I liked every goal that Mbappe scored. My emotions flowed in Messi’s veins. How do you reconcile a hat trick that ended up losing against the wish you wanted to be granted?

It’s hard to be Mbappe tonight.

But it’s great to be Messi tonight.

In due time, given enough separation, Mbappe will salute this defeat as his greatest triumph.

The world is a better place tonight.

Messi belongs to the ages.

Mbappe has ages ahead of him.

– Brij