Sanskari Balak

Besides fighting the absurdity of an inversely proportional waistline to hairline, I write and I draw too.

[Sanskari Balak @bongbelly]

@UberIN_Support Can someone please help me get in touch with the driver for getting my lost headphones back? I need to coordinate the return but the driver is not picking my calls. Can your team contact him, please?

[Sanskari Balak @bongbelly]

@zomatocare Shared. Hoping for a quick resolution and a definite delisting of a phoney joint that doesn't exist on the address provided

[Sanskari Balak @bongbelly]

@zomatocare Got fleeced by a phoney joint (that is not even a real address as I drove there) that delivered stale biryani and now your AI bot tells me that it is not Zomato's responsibility. If customer care could be rated negative, you would win hands down #pathetic @deepigoyal

[Sanskari Balak @bongbelly]

@zomatocare I am also livid in having invested in a company with such horrible and pathetic service. Please learn a thing or two from @SwiggyCares

[Sanskari Balak @bongbelly]

@Catsillyness Tiramisu 🥰

[Shilpak. @ugach_kahitarii]

English dubbed versions of Marathi daily soaps sound superrr weird 🤣🤣

They're showing them on Zee Africa 😭😭

[Sanskari Balak @bongbelly]

@m_samina @parodevi Couldn't agree more!

[Sanskari Balak @bongbelly]

#INDIGO #indigoairlines Sitting in a fully packed 6E 5284 from Goa to Mumbai without proper ventilation or AC. People are sweating and your cabin crew has no explanation as it will start working as the plane flies. I hope you guys understand that you're risking many lives here.

[Sanjiv Bhatt (IPS) @sanjivbhatt]

This is Shweta Sanjiv Bhatt,

In these last 5 years, I've often been asked if I still have any faith in the Judiciary ….. while the subversion witnessed has been shocking and saddening, I held on to a sliver of hope that there must still exist a handful few, who would bravely and honestly dispatch justice.

However, today I stand questioning my misplaced belief.

The Supreme Court yesterday slapped a 3 Lakh rupee fine on us for approaching the court, for what they called, "Many" times.

Little did I know that in Modi's India, pursuing justice is a criminal offence … little did I know that there was a limit to the number of times one can approach a forum to seek justice!

I naively thought that access to justice …. not limited justice, was a fundamental right guaranteed to all its citizens by the constitution of this country.

For the last 5 years, every petition filed by us kept biting the dust in the registry, un-numbered for years at a time, only to be taken up by the court to be dismissed without it even being heard.

So yes, we approach the Court in pursuit of Justice because justice has been, and continues to be systematically denied to us.

Courts are meant to be a safe haven for an individual seeking justice, but when the very court abuses their power to penalise individuals for approaching them, where does one turn to get justice?

Reprimanding, intimidating and penalising individuals for approaching the court, is a gross violation of their very fundamental human rights.

But sadly, today we live in times where seeking justice is criminalised, reprimanded, and fined ... Where honesty no longer has a place in society and where subversion rules the day.

We live in times where rapists, rioters and lynchers are not only entertained, but they walk scot free; whereas honest and brave individuals languish in jail waiting for one fair day in court.

This regime continues to use their unbridled power to subvert systems …. to make a mockery of our once robust judicial system, all with the sole intention to intimidate, silence and break Sanjiv.

To this regime and their stooges, I have only one thing to say:

You may continue to play your unscrupulous games …. we will continue to fight despite all odds.

We have honesty and truth by our side, you have all your powers to be.

So beat us, break us, intimidate us, harass us .... we will keep fighting, till the castle of lies you've built on hate, fear and subversion come crumbling down.

We continue to remain unbroken, unbent, unbowed in our pursuit of justice.

#JusticeforSanjivBhatt #FreeSanjivBhatt #EnoughIsEnough

[Tonmoy Goswami @tonmoygo]

In 2004, my dad filed a case of medical negligence against one of India's most powerful hospitals viz. Batra Hospital, Delhi and Padmashree awardee cardiologist Dr Upendra Kaul.

Case was filed in the state consumer court, Delhi & my dad asked for a compensation of Rs. 80 lakh. (80,00,000 INR)

After 11 years, in 2015 my dad passed away, without getting justice.

My senior citizen widowed mother decided not to give up.

TLDR; we won the case after 19 long years, but what transpired is a story that teaches you that, in India, it's better if you can settle outside the court.

But, sometimes it's not about the compensation, settlement, or winning a case; it's about making sure the perpetrators are taught a lesson so that the negligence never gets repeated. It's also about closure.

Here's the story of how a common middle-class Indian family from Assam fought a mighty & powerful establishment in their own city (Delhi) for 19 long years and brought the hospital to its knees:

----

It's a long story, but I'll try to keep it short.

In 2004, my dad went to Delhi alone for a routine heart check-up & returned with a pace-maker in his chest.

Escalated too quickly? Exactly my mother's reaction when he called from Delhi asking her to immediately board a flight from our hometown in Guwahati, Assam.

Long story short:
1. Dad went for a diagnostic study called EPS. Batra hospital took consent for it.
2. Protocol is that if EPS study came abnormal, RFA is suggested as the next step as a treatment after discussing with the patient. Patient needs to provide a fresh consent for RFA.
3. However, if the pathways are too close, RFA is risky & is not recommended as it can be fatal.
4. EPS shows if pathways are close or not.

My dad's EPS showed that pathways are close.

In spite of that, Batra hospital and its cardiologists went ahead and performed RFA:
a. Without consulting with the patient or relatives.
b. Without taking fresh consent as it's a separate procedure.

Things then went south real quick.

----

Due to closeness of pathways, obvious complications occurred & my dad's life was in danger. The only way to save him? Put a pace-maker in his chest immediately!

So that's what they did: put a temporary pace-maker while informing my mother to immediately catch a flight to Delhi so that they can put a permanent pace-maker the next day.

And you would think, the ordeal would end there? Cute.

----

My parents returned home after a few days & dad was supposed to recover.

But instead, we saw his chest area getting swollen day by day. We freaked out and consulted a cardiologist in Guwahati. And they confirmed the worse: the pace-maker was not installed properly and one of the pipes pierced through his heart.

He needs an urgent emergency open-heart surgery to fix the pace-maker.

So, my family went through another few days of anxiety, stress and disbelief.

----

My dad, is known in our friends and family circles as someone who's always been an super-active person; always engaged in some form of work; be it gardening, fixing electronics, repairing things around the house. My mother used to call him the perfect engineer since he could fix anything compared to the other two engineers in the family viz. me and my sister who were lazy compared to him.

The series of surgeries and a pace-maker did slow my dad down, but couldn't kill his spirit. However, we could see the difference. We would pace himself while climbing stairs etc.

It would hurt us a lot. And him too.

So he decided to drag Batra Hospital to the consumer forum.

----

Our family advocate resides in Kolkata and he agreed to take the case up pro-bono. We assumed it'll be an open and shut case. And since it's consumer court, we assumed it will be quick justice.

Oh, we are so wrong. So so wrong.

My dad attended every single hearing of the case from 2004 till 2015 when he passed away. He used to take a flight from Guwahati while booking a ticket for our advocate from Kolkata. Then there was cost of accommodation in Delhi.

Attending these hearings was no cheap affair. When you add up each hearing over 19 years...it quickly adds up to a large amount.

----

On many occasions, someone from hearing judge bench would be absent so nothing would happen. You get a new date, months in the future.
Or the opposite party advocate would be absent, or cite lame excuses to stall the proceedings. E.g. once the opposite advocate asked the court for a new date since his colleague was stuck in traffic and couldn't reach the court. And we were given a new date!

Imagine the frustration.

And this happened over 11 years till my dad passed away.

----

When dad passed away, Batra Hospital might have heaved a sigh of relief. Can't blame them; they had not yet met my mother.

She decided to continue the fight. That's when I started taking active participation as well.

Let's take a pause and understand why it took so many years?

1. It's a medical case and the judges felt inadequate without proper medical advice.
2. The opposite party was a Padmashree awardee celebrated cardiologist and the hospital was founded by people walking the corridoors of power.
3. Deliberate delays of absenteeism, withdrawing evidence from court etc.

The court asked an independent medical board for their recommendations. The medical board tilted in our favour for obvious reasons: the medical negligence was apparent.

----

Batra hospital tried to confuse the judge's bench by claiming that consent was taken for RFA. When asked to provide evidence, they would repeatedly provide the EPS consent form. This would delay the case and do nothing else.

They also never submitted the EPS traces to the court. They claimed that the traces were provided to my family and they have no record in their system. Which was utterly bullsh*t because we didn't have the traces.

They didn't provide the traces as it would immediately shut the case. Traces will show that the pathways were close, so RFA was not warranted.

Unable to provide consent form & Unable to provide traces went against them.

And in 2018, we won the case in the Delhi state consumer forum. The court awarded 10 lakh (10,00,000 INR) compensation with 7% simple interest from the date of filing the case.

While it was nothing compared to the asked compensation of 80 lakhs, we were happy as it was never about the money anyway.

But our happiness was short-lived, as Batra Hospital decided to appeal the judgement in the higher court: The National Consumer Forum.

----

And so we were back to square one. I promised mom that even if it takes another 14 years, I'll continue the fight.

And so we did. Date after date, hearing after hearing. Same BS all over again.

However, our advocate Mr. Neguive Ahmed is one of the best in the business. A senior citizen himself, he was so frustrated that he took it upon himself to turn Godmode on. I witnessed one of his argument session at court and he ruthlessly thrashed the opposing party left, right and center. He didn't even spare the bench & schooled them for taking forever to deliver a judgement.

This time, he was not going to let it continue for 10 more years. So he pushed at every hearing for shorter dates.

And in 2023, we won again!

Batra was brought to its knees. They can appeal again, yes; but it has to be the Supreme Court.

And after getting their a** whopped twice in a row for 19 years, they didn't have the courage to approach Supreme Court. And finally gave up.

----

It begs a question: Did we really win? And even if we did win technically, at what cost?

I would say, it comes at a price of your mental wellbeing, financial expense, a lot of frustration, shameless advocates and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Batra's advocate is so shameless, he allegedly told our advocate, "We have worked for so many years on the case, won't you give us something? Your client has won a hefty amount"

Bloody bloodsucker! You worked AGAINST us all these years and now you want 'something' for your 'service'?!

----

So, is justice delayed justice denied?

Definitely yes, my family is just happy that the case is over. But we are also happy to have never given up. I understand that it may not be financially possible for everyone to not give up on a long legal battle, but that's what they want: drown you into date after date so that one fine day, you simply give up because it starts looking futile.

If you can, persist. As my mom did and my dad would have.

Even if it's justice denied, it's justice nonetheless for the future patients.

It's like paying for the next person.

At least the next time they perform any surgery that requires consent, they will remember the Goswami family.

Thanks for reading.

[Sanskari Balak @bongbelly]

Flew @airvistara UK613 to Udaipur today and was appalled by the sub par food served on the so called 'all service' flight. Dry rice with a few chana pieces that clearly looked like leftovers from last night! Would prefer no food than such bad food. @RNTata2000

[Sanskari Balak @bongbelly]

इ https://t.co/Op2Ev0PnNY

[Sanskari Balak @bongbelly]

https://t.co/Op2Ev0PnNYएखे

[Sanskari Balak @bongbelly]

#NotMyBCI Opposition to BCI's Resolution on legalisation of LGBTQIA+ marriage - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/8f02Pnusmn via @ChangeOrg_India

[Gabbar @GabbbarSingh]

Something you most must read! https://t.co/JiMMK5A08P

[Dan Go @CoachDanGo]

If you want to get in the best shape of your life by 2023 read this:

[Pickle @mpickle]

10 tips for consistent sleep:

1) Journal
2) Reduce blue light
3) Cut caffeine early
4) Sleep consistently
5) Revamp your room
6) Let your mind relax
7) Meditate before bed
8) Get sunlight exposure
9) Cool your temperature
10) Don’t exercise late at night

[Vittoria @vitt2tsnoc]

Princess Margaret's morning routine is something I aspire to.

[Alex Banks @thealexbanks]

Sequoia Capital, the VC behind Airbnb, Uber, and WhatsApp, has backed over 300 startups.

Their pitch deck framework has funded over $3.3 trillion dollars in market value.

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