“Halfway to Childhood: Dr. Chari’s Quiet Journey Back to Wonder”
- Sriranga VN
- Jul 30, 2025
- 2 min read
🪷 Back to Being a Child – Dr. Chari’s Way
"It takes a long time to become young."– Pablo Picasso
The clinic was unusually quiet that afternoon. A slow breeze stirred the neem leaves. The air smelt of camphor and clean floors.
Dr. Chari sat behind his old wooden desk, spectacles lowered, a small smile curling up under his white moustache as he read a few lines from a tattered volume of the Ashtavakra Gita and Harrisons Textbook.
Just then, little Ammulu bounded in, dusty from the fields and breathless. “Appa! Amma said I shouldn’t disturb, but I finished my homeworks! Can I sit with you for some time?”
Dr. Chari looked up, eyes twinkling. “Of course, kutti Einstein. You are always welcome in this university of mischief.”
As Ammulu plonked onto the old wooden bench, Chari leaned back and said, half to himself:“Strange, isn’t it? The first half of our life, we run fast to become adults. The second half, if we are lucky, we unlearn just enough to become children again.”
🔍 The Adulting Trap
“I studied, worked, became a doctor, wore coats, tied ties, said serious things. People nodded seriously. Patients stared with awe. And slowly… I forgot to laugh at nonsense, climb trees, ask silly questions, or see butterflies as Gods in disguise,” he mused.
“But thankfully… the cosmos had a correction plan.” He chuckled. “Life gives you hernia, heartbreak, and a little dose of humility... and then slowly, the child peeks through.”
He looked at Ammulu, “That’s why you’re my teacher.”
🧠 Quantum and Vedanta
“In Vedanta,” Chari explained, “we say: na janma na mrityu na bandha na moksha – there is no birth, no death, no bondage, and no liberation. Only Being — pure, joyful, playful awareness.”
“And Quantum?” he grinned.
“Quantum agrees! The universe, it seems, doesn’t behave like a cranky boss, but like a child playing hide and seek. Possibilities. Leela. Wonder.”
🧂 The Medicine of Play
Later that day, an elderly man with diabetes and depression walked in. His shoulders were stooped, his words heavy.
“Take this medicine,” said Dr. Chari, handing over the prescription. “But also take one more thing…”
“What’s that, saar?”
“A spinning top. Find one. Spin it. Watch it. It will teach you how to breathe again. And maybe smile.”
The man stared. “Are you serious?”
“As serious as a child,” Chari winked. “We doctors are not just in the business of curing diseases. We must remember to restore delight.”
🌸 Full Circle
At the Satya Mandapa that evening, Chari sat sipping tulsi tea. The cows grazed.
Sundarammal hummed an old lullaby. Bahadur ran past chasing a butterfly. And Chari smiled — the kind of smile only those who’ve returned to childhood can wear.
He picked up his journal and scribbled:
“The serious man dies a little every day.The playful one is reborn each morning.”
🪷 Closing Words
Whether you are 9 or 90, there’s a child waiting inside you — the one who loves without reason, laughs without worry, and lives with eyes full of wonder.
May we all become adults... only to find our way back to that child.
🙏– Dr. S.P.V. Chari
Doctor, farmer, child of the cosmos
Comments