Health is lived before it is diagnosed.
Diseases impact more than the body. They reshape routines, food, relationships, caregiving, emotional well-being, and community life. Murkhali explores the human side of healthcare through stories of discipline, nourishment, caregiving, lifestyle, breath, and healing.
KNOWING DIABETES THROUGH MY FATHER
Discipline. Community. Enthusiasm
There is something deeply Indian about hearing the word “diabetes” in your thirties and responding as if someone had gifted you a Swiss watch. My father did exactly that.
When he was diagnosed at thirty, he looked at my mother and said, calmly, almost triumphantly:
“This is the best thing that has happened to us. Now we will live a disciplined life.”
No cinematic breakdown. No dramatic questioning of fate. Not even the respectable silence of a tragic hero staring into the middle distance while a flute plays softly in the background.
Just discipline. And so our home reorganized itself around glucose.
METASTATIC CANCER
Faith. Food. Fun
My mother was a woman of immense faith and a deeply devoted homemaker who treated her own needs the way Indian homemakers treat warranty cards: technically important, but never urgent enough to deal with personally.
Her health. Her food. Her rest. Her body. All permanently moved to the bottom of the list.
Even after being diagnosed with cancer, she remained more concerned about what would happen to all after she's gone. That is the strange mathematics of caregiving: some people become so essential to everybody else’s survival that they quietly disappear from their own list of priorities.
My mother expressed love through food. Long before “three-ingredient meals” became an expensive wellness trend, she had already mastered it. She made the simplest food - lentils, veggies and rice and yet it would be the most delicious food we'd eaten.
Just instinct, nourishment, and care. And the food was unforgettable.
WOMEN'S HEALTH
Motherhood-a birthright?
Motherhood feels less like a life milestone and more like a birthright you assume will arrive eventually — like taxes, grey hair or lower back pain.
And when it doesn’t arrive on schedule, it can feel strangely like grief.
In 2003, I found myself panicking about having started my conception journey “late,” as I was too busy to build myself professionally. Only to discover a low AMH result is less important than lifestyle and food. And then missing chances totally. Only to realize new studies that reiterate the fact that - no! with time, knowledge has evolved too!
This one deserves more than a blog. It deserves videos and apps. Don't you think so. So, explore more in the Lifestyle hack section.
Mental Health
Having closely cared for Mental Health patients and closely witnessed the Medical Ssytems I would like to talk about why there are such systemic disconnects in diagnosis and care -- and why throughout this blog you'll witness a theme for the need for authentic traditional care as the best care.
BACK TO BASICS
The Diagnosis Disconnect
12:45 • Reflections on the first stage
My path to recovery
12:45 • Reflections on the first stage
Read, Reflect, Share
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