SAUDADE DO COCHIM. THE ARAB ORIGINS OF MANY COASTAL KERALITES

the geography of the region, island of Hormuz, Oman and Ras-al-Khaimah in the UAE 

This blog was written in response to a question from Abu Dhabi in UAE regarding the Arab Origins of some of the coastal Keralites working in the Gulf.

Kerala coast had been visited by mainly Arab and Jewish traders from the Middle East for centuries. Many of the traders would stay in the ports for many years and many of them took local wives. Mappilai muslims of Malabar trace their ancestry to arab admixture.

On a personal note, I cannot help noting the physiognomy of the people of coastal Kerala and the strong resemblance of the early christians to the Yemenite Jews and the Muslims to the Arabs of Mesopotamia.

EACH ONE OF US HAVE OUR OWN ITHACA... MINE HAS BEEN BARACOA, CUBA BUT IT STARTED IN LEVUKA, FIJI

We are always grateful for friends from yore who introduced us to books or poems or countries or ways of thinking. We are the collective expressions of so many of those experiences.

Who told me about Kavafy and his poem ITHACA ? Certainly I was exposed to it as a student either in Australia or Sweden.

Constantine P. Cavafy, English in full Constantine Petrou Cavafy, pseudonym of Konstantínos Pétrou Kaváfis, (born April 29, 1863, Alexandria, Egypt—died April 29, 1933, Alexandria), Greek poet who developed his own consciously individual style and thus became one of the most important figures not only in Greek poetry but in Western poetry as well. He lived most of his life in Alexandria, Egypt, loved English and French literature, and generally spoke English; even his Greek had a British accent.

part of the poem:

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.

Arriving there is what you’re destined for.

But don’t hurry the journey at all.

Better if it lasts for years,

so you’re old by the time you reach the island,

wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,

not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.

Without her you wouldn't have set out.

She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.

Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,

you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean. 

what stood out in my mind at that time was that ITHAKA like life itself or a spiritual quest, is not a destination but the journey.

Arriving at the new port for the first time,  looking around and feeling with a sense of joy that you are supposed to be there is such a fantastic sensation.

On my journey to Ithaka, I have had that sensation more than once

Baracoa, Cuba

Paraty, RJ, Brésil

and one town relevant to this blog, 

Levuka in the island of Oavalu in Fiji.

If I remember correctly, having done that trip more than once, you take a bus from Suva to Natovi Landing  and then catch a ferry for the ride to the Levuka Port. and I remember taking a propeller plane to the airstrip in Oavalu and catching a ride on a lorry to the town over dirt roads and dense jungle. Whatever your mode of transport, you would never be too far away from lush jungle.

Levuka is famous for many of Fiji's "firsts." It was the site of Fiji's first bank, post office, school, private members club, hospital, town hall, and municipal government. Fiji's first newspaper, the Fiji Times, which is still in operation today, was founded in Levuka in 1869. Levuka's Royal Hotel is the oldest hotel in the South Pacific still operating. Historians have not ascertained its exact age, but records show that it was in existence by the early 1860s. Levuka Public School, opened in 1879, was the first public school in Fiji and many of Fiji's leaders in the years leading up to and following independence in 1970 were educated there. The oldest Masonic lodge in the South Pacific, Lodge Polynesia 562 SC, is also to be found in Levuka. It was established in 1875. Levuka was also the site of Fiji's first public electricity system, which began in 1927, three days before the capital Suva was electrified. from WIKI

Walking along the main street with shop fronts unchanged for decades, an old man approached me and introduced himself to me.

I am 90 years old, I remember his face very clearly to this day, but alas do not remember his name and he was one of the last indentured labourers from India to arrive in Fiji which had begun 100 years earlier. I would look for him on my subsequent visits and once was told that he had passed away. I remember his toothless smile and thick glasses and eagerness to be photographed.

Sitting at the patio of the Royal Hotel, looking at the town of Levuka, sipping something agreeable, and thinking of Somerset Maugham .. a nice afternoon in Levuka 

That is the day LEO AFRICANUS entered my life.

Two other travellers shared the Royal Hotel with me. Royal Hotel by then was the grand lady, having survived the turbulent history of the past century, not as elegant as her sister hotel in Suva, the Grand Pacific Hotel.

Memory plays tricks on us, I clearly remember the name of one but not the face and the face of the other but not the name. Merce from Catalunya was reading a book Leo Africanus .. Thus entered into my Amin Malouf, the Lebanese writer who now lives in Paris. 

As soon as I returned to my cosmopolitan lodgings in Australia, I looked for and found a copy of Leo Africanus. I dont think I spoke Spanish at that time, but many years later I acquired a copy of the book in Spanish as welll, all lost to a broken fawcet in a house in the isolated Indian reservation. 

But the interest and the influence is not forgotten.

Leo Africanus

Amin Maalouf, Leo Africanus, 1998 I, Hasan the son of Muhammad the weigh-master, I, Jean-Leon de Medici, circumcised at the hand of a barber and baptized at the hand of a pope, I am now called the African, but I am not from Africa, nor from Europe, nor from Arabia. I am also called the Granadan, the Fassi, the Zayyati, but I come from no country, from no city, no tribe. I am the son of the road, my country is the caravan, my life the most unexpected of voyages." Thus wrote Leo Africanus, in his fortieth year, in this imaginary autobiography of the famous geographer, adventurer, and scholar Hasan al-Wazzan, who was born in Granada in 1488. His family fled the Inquisition and took him to the city of Fez, in North Africa. Hasan became an itinerant merchant, and made many journeys to the East, journeys rich in adventure and observation. He was captured by a Sicilian pirate and taken back to Rome as a gift to Pope Leo X, who baptized him Johannes Leo. While in Rome, he wrote the first trilingual dictionary (Latin, Arabic and Hebrew), as well as his celebrated Description of Africa, for which he is still remembered as Leo Africanus.  Image: Yahyá al-Wasiti, Scholars at an Abbasid library, 1237. Bibliotheque Nationale de France. I am forever grateful for that introduction to Leo Africanus at the Royal Hotel in Levuka in the island of Oavalu in Fiji Islands. Suva was one of the towns I had thought of living for a while but now the images of the streets of Suva recede into oblivion. But what I would not do, do spend an evening at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva !! Whether I am headed to Suva or Baracoa or Paraty (this is more likely) I will keep these lines from Leo Africanus  I come from no country, from no city, no tribe. I am the son of the road, my country is the caravan, my life the most unexpected of voyages. I will travel endlessly, untiringly, excitedly, patiently, passionately until I too become Yehuda Australis...I wait for you in Paraty. Poem by Pablo Neruda.  Pido Silencio Ahora me dejen tranquilo. Ahora se acostumbren sin mí. Yo voy a cerrar los ojos Y sólo quiero cinco cosas, cinco raices preferidas. Una es el amor sin fin. Lo segundo es ver el otoño. No puedo ser sin que las hojas vuelen y vuelvan a la tierra. Lo tercero es el grave invierno, la lluvia que amé, la caricia del fuego en el frío silvestre. En cuarto lugar el verano redondo como una sandía. La quinta cosa son tus ojos, Matilde mía, bienamada, no quiero dormir sin tus ojos, no quiero ser sin que me mires: yo cambio la primavera por que tú me sigas mirando.

HOW TO INCREASE YOUR THINKING POWER? HAVE AN ABSOLUTE DAY OF TRANQUILITY AND BLISS WITH NO ANXIETY

 I have had two days of absolute tranquility, calm and mental balance. No one else is in this house, I have my coffee at the patio looking at the green scenery outside. I eat simple meals, with no meat but lots of food that my microbiomes like. No hurry to do anything, but read what I want to read, write a little and of course keeping in touch with my good friends from around the world.

Today has been an exceptionally good day, a day with absolutely no anxiety or stress, no visitors, no telephone calls, did not go out.

a little bit of yoga, a little bit of meditation. communication with my good friends in Cuba which always brings joy. 

I began noticing something about my thinking and also a sensation which was much more than calm inside. I do lead a relatively stress free life for a person living in the west, but my mind was very much in balance.

A friend from the Middle East had asked a question and I wrote a long reply, and I felt that my thinking capacity had improved and that my words were precise and my thoughts logical. I was happy but i did not connect the clarity of my thoughts to the tranquility i have been experiencing for the two days. 

so it was nice to listen to this brief video from the Indian mystic, Sadhguru, about joy in the heart and the clarity of thinking.

So, grateful for all the friends and family for the past several months, since March 2020 when I had to cancel my trips abroad (Germany, Austria, France, Israel, Brasil, Cuba), for the company and the pleasure of being together virtually 

Thailand 

Malaysia 

Indonesia 

Australia

Cochin, India 

Qatar

IRAN

Israel 

France

Morocco

Belgium

Austria 

Spain 

Colombia 

Cuba 

USA

Mexico

and especially Brasil.

and lately,

Madagascar

UAE

WHY ARE WE SO SILENT ABOUT THE SUFFERING OF THE PEOPLE OF IRAN? LET EACH ONE OF US DO A LITTLE TO ALLEVIATE THEIR SUFFERING

 I have been marooned in Miami, unable to travel since March 2020, except for a trip to Cuba. Certainly I have taken advantage of this imposed isolation and put my brain to use. While the brain worked, helped many others (counseling and healing), the absence of friends and visits began to take its toll. I estimate that 100 per cent of us have been psychologically affected by this pandemic. I am forever grateful that this isolation was carried out under a secure roof, comfort from my adopted sister and brother in Miami with no insecurity about food and also the fact that Miami, while part of the Banana Republic run by fascist elements of an immigrant population, is still part of the Democracy of the United States. 

Imagine you had to spend this year and half in totalitarian states or autocratic states or where there is war and ravages (Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Iraq).. think of Ukraine, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, India/Pakistan/Bangladesh/Nepal/SriLanka...these are extreme cases of autocracy or poverty or neglected health services. 

One country stands out and apart, where the suffering which has been constant since 1979 but with exacerbations and lately with sanctions imposed, an economic crisis beyond imagination.

The country is IRAN. a country very close to me, made into a reality by a father who had lived in Iran and had supported a popular leader of an uprising many decades ago. But my memory of Iran, having never visited Iran, is through the friends I have made, books I have read .. especially poetry. Once Internet was available, i was able to learn more about modern Persian poetry as well as the Iranian music both old and traditional as well as popular and new.

My love for Iran grew by leaps and bounds since 2010 when I began being in touch with friends inside Iran on a regular basis.

One of the casualties of this isolation has been the News Media and the fake news they spread, regardless of their nationalities. Apart from New York Times the newspapers of the major cities with possible exceptions in Washington or Los Angeles are not worth reading, more like gossip yellow journalism. But fortunately The Economist, the best news magazine in the world in my opinion is available on line and more importantly, during the long drives, BBC world news service keeps you abreast of what is happening and its reporting is as neutral as you are going to find in any part of the world. 

This morning, there was a conversation with three women living inside Iran, all well versed in English.

I felt immensely sad. What came through in those voices: frustration, hopelessness, dislike of the government regulations and the religious obligations, fear about the economy, disappointment that dreams may be shattered. All of them want to emigrate. These are educated young women who have dreams like their counterparts living in Belgium or California, but the frustration was so apparent in their voices.

The entire interview, 50 minutes long, is available until 8th July and there will be more on this series this month on BBC.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w172xxxjryk66vr 

I feel compelled to bring a little cheer to the lives of my Iranian friends, none of whom can travel at the moment and no one would advise me to travel to Iran, now or in the near future.

We have to see poetry and music in adversity. A friend of mine sent a photo and some words which soothes all Iranian hearts,

the note that accompanied it said: My fathers funeral ❤️

I was not sure what to make of this, until the explanation arrived:

It was a daughter's lament:

She said that why you have chosen the earth? Is it warmer than my hugs? So why did you go ?

It is such poetry and emotions that make me love Iran. 

Heart full of Saudade (my favourite portuguese word)

Fal e Hafez 

Ask Hafez 

Hafez's Ghazals are more read than even Quran in Iran, People seek solace in his words.

This time I was not searching for an answer but an explanation of my sentiments. Hafez is figurative and from his answer you can see the strength of my love for Iran.

هزار دشمنـم ار می‌کنند قصد هـلاک

گرم تو دوستی از دشمـنان ندارم باک

مرا امید وصال تو زنده می‌دارد

و گر نه هر دمم از هجر توست بیم هلاک

نفـس نفـس اگر از باد نشنوم بویش

زمان زمان چو گل از غم کنم گریبان چاک

رود به خواب دو چشم از خیال تو هیهات

بود صـبور دل اندر فراق تو حاشاک

اگر تو زخم زنی به کـه دیگری مرهـم

و گر تو زهر دهی به کـه دیگری تریاک

بـضرب سیفـک قتـلی حیاتـنا ابدا

لان روحی قد طاب ان یکون فداک

عنان مپیچ که گر می‌زنی به شمشیرم

سـپر کنم سر و دستت ندارم از فتراک

تو را چنان که تویی هر نـظر کـجا بیند

به قدر دانش خود هر کسی کند ادراک

بـه چشم خلق عزیز جهان شود حافظ

کـه بر در تو نهد روی مسکنت بر خاک

Here the figure of speech (like in many Persian poems, where alcohol might represent a love of the divine,) I sense the passion for what we conceive in my imagination of my creation of a just world of letters and sensations. What I want today is that justice displayed as love and passion in the above ghazal be available as hope, confidence, fulfillment of dreams for all Iranians.

IF YOU HAVE GLUCOSE DYSFUNCTION, JUST WATCH OUT THOSE VITAMIN GUMMIES AND SUPPLEMENTS

 I am a Physician specializing in Endocrinology, the study of the metabolism and also the hormones. We can measure the levels of many hormones in the body necessary for smooth functioning of the metabolism and tend to supplement when the hormones are low or absent ( Hypothyroidism when you are given Thyroxine or when a hormone is absent, as in Type 1 Diabetes), there are conditions when they are too much as well. 

When you visit these United States of America, you would be impressed with very many things, including the amount of vitamins, supplements and other things (Turmeric is the darling now) they swallow. Why are they insisting on gluten free stuff if they do not have gluten intolerance? No one says I will drink Lactose free milk but it is good to drink it if you have lactose intolerance which is quite common. 

Americans are very good at selling things and promoting things. USA is full of exercise gurus, nutrition gurus, finance gurus and most of them are not qualified but they know how to MARKET it and EXPORT it. 

While they put so much emphasis on physical exercise and jogging and running and cardiac exercises and all sorts of gym based exercises, they eat food which is nutritionally garbage and as you can see with their obesity rate. Dont get me wrong, good food is available in the USA and many people eat well but a large proportion eat bad food for various reasons, much of it socio cultural and economic in nature.

A colleague of mine often asks me metabolism related questions and I am glad to oblige and I had requested that she put on a Continuous Glucose Monitor which would give the sugar reading at any time of the day or night 

She exercises a lot (excessively in my opinion) and I was surprised when she showed me her CGM reading.

Before she left home for work, the Blood Sugar was 108 mg/dl very much the normal for her. then I wondered what made the sugar go up nearly a 100 points during the drive from home to work ..You could ask her questions like (most doctors would ask): did you eat something, did you drink some fizzy sugar drink ? But if you an anthropologist, you would say: can you explain why your sugar leapt a 100 mg/dl

The answer was forthcoming. She eats vitamin and food supplements in the form of gummies on her way to work, about 8 of them in total. 

Apart from the sugar and glucose that these vitamins and supplements contain, there must be other chemicals that are not suitable for every one. 

I also believe and substantiated by many studies that many of the supplements are of no value.

on January 2020, Washington Post had an article on supplements:

Every year, Americans spend something like $35 billion on vitamins, minerals, botanicals and various other substances that are touted as health-giving but mostly do nothing at all.Jan 24, 2020. 

For comparison, this is more than the operating budgets of many

developing countries.

But are Americans healthier? No Not at all.. are the vitamin 

chomping and supplement swallowing population outlive the 

other americans who save hundreds of dollars every year by

not buying supplements ?  NO

Studies are coming out demonstrating the harm done by some 

of these popular but not well known supplements,

such as CoQ10.

Pro biotics are also suspect..

So if you suspect yourself having a glucose imbalance in your

body, be a little careful about the vitamins and supplements , they

may not be as innocent as they sound and look and taste..

SO MUCH FAKE PROPAGANDA OR MISUNDERSTANDING ABOUT COVID VACCINE

 Each year millions and millions of people get vaccinated for one of the many dreadful diseases we no longer see, because of the effectiveness of the vaccines. 

But the fake news and misunderstanding and misinformation is also rife, and in many countries, such as Pakistan, being a vaccinator can be a deadly profession.

But never before Covid 19 the world has been divided into a group bent on propagating non scientific and proof less information and the others, which fortunately are in the majority, who follow the scientists. When you have idiots of a grand scale such as the President of Brasil saying that the vaccine might turn you into a Crocodile? or people claiming Microsoft chips are being introduced and a common allegation from many parts of the world including Brasil that the vaccine makes you magnetic.

So I was very amused when a friend of mind from Iran, sent a picture of her sister who had just gotten the coronavirus vaccine and that she has become magnetic and she sent me this photograph.

My friend insisted that the fork did not stick to any of the other members of the family, unvaccinated of course.

I have seen far too many illusions around the world and I certainly would accept if it has something to do with their faith or culture or congruous to their belief systems

But do not expect me to believe that the vaccine had made the recipient magnetic enough to hold a fork!

I went into the kitchen and put fork on my forearm, not the place when i received the vaccine nearly six months ago, lo and behold, the fork stayed there even when my arms were straight and parallel to my body..

It may have to do with many physical explanations but certainly it is not due to magnetism..

My advice is this, while we are swimming in an excess of vaccine in the USA, millions are standing in line or willing to stand in line for days to get their shots. Please get a vaccine, whichever one you can get. We do not have the luxury of picking and choosing.. Just get protected..

TO SOLVE THIS CLINICAL CASE, CALL IN DR JULIO FERREIRO

 I had a chance to study at the Jackson Memorial Hospital/University of Miami School of Medicine, twice during my professional formation as a Consultant Physician in Endocrinology. I was there as an External Medical Student while reading Medicine in London and then again a most memorable educational period in Endocrinology (also bits of Neuro Opthalmology). I am so grateful for JMH and UM School of Medicine.

I benefitted by following a giant in Clinical Medicine, who was the Professor Consultant in the ward for  General Medicine patients and being a teaching hospital catering for indigent patients, a wide spectrum of diseases were seen and treated and healed. 

That giant was Dr Julio Ferreiro, from whom thousands of students learned Clinical Medicine. I still recall his pontifications in his thick cuban accented English: he was a master of differential diagnosis.. of thicker bone density in the lower back, prolonged p-q interval in lateral leads of an EKG..the fact that I can still recall these things, shows how impressed we were, starting our clinical careers. Muchas Gracias, Dr. Ferreiro. 

Many years later, I was able to visit his alma mater, Hospital Universitario General Calixto Garcia in Havana. I imagined him walking around the hallowed halls of knowledge and was greatly honoured to have met dr San Martin who remembered his class mate Julio very well. 

Cuba continues to produce great clinicians as well as educate thousands of doctors from poorer countries as well as send thousands of doctors to work in developing countries. I have met them in Zanzibar, Namibia. Venezuela, Colombia, Easter Island among other places..

I am so glad to have been a student of Dr Julio Ferreiro, a physician with encylopaedic knowledge of Clinical Medicine.

I was very lucky that during my medical school days and soon afterwards, I was able to travel a fair bit around the world and listened keenly to stories of legendary teachers.

Prof. Leo Shamroth, the head of Medicine at Bardgwanath Hospital in Jo'burg in South Africa had written a short book on ECG which was very popular with medical students all over the world. I had met some of his students from WitsMed and they extolled his teaching.

In the same hemisphere, Michael Gelfand had a gigantic reputation and he devoted his entire life to the medical care in Salisbury/Harare, in Southern Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. 

When I was a junior doctor in Melbourne, the professor in charge was Dr Richard Larkins, an incredibly knowledgeable clinician in addition to being a basic scientist. I am grateful to have been his student.

So, it looks like that at each of the great medical centres in the world, there are stellar clinicians. D. Geraint James who was married to the Hepatology Dame Sheila Sherlock had a great reputation among students of General Medicine, in London. 

Why did I think of Julio today?

A friend of mine called to ask for some help in diagnosis of a member of her family. It was very obvious from the beginning that it would be a diagnostic dilemma. It gave me a chance to read a vast array of subjects in Medicine (I am a specialist physician in Endocrinology) outside the field of my specialization but I always have had special interest in Renal Diseases and Rheumatological diseases.

The patient/friend is at a teaching hospital and had the pleasure of talking to the junior doctor taking care of him. Once again, I was back in the shadow of Julio, listening to him and realizing how important are your teachers when you are entering this labyrinth of Medicine, getting larger day by day.

Muchas Gracias, Julio..