K. R. Sethuraman
52 Seeing the whole picture The Blind Men and the Elephant: When a group of blind men were shown an elephant, each touched different parts of its body. One said, 'It is like a rope'. Others disagreed and said:
"No! It is like a thick snake."
"No! It is like a tree trunk."
"No! It is like a fan."
"No! It is like a spear."
"No! It is like a wall."
The guide with a normal vision then told them, "You are all partly right but
wholly wrong" and described to them the size and parts of the elephant.
Kannan, a 56-year old toddy tapper, went to a heart care centre for advice. Of late,
he had developed chest discomfort while climbing tall palm trees to collect toddy. He had adapted to this disability by climbing on dwarf palm trees and delegating the tall trees to his son. On testing, he was found to have blood flow problems in the heart (ischemia).
Dr Shankar, a heart specialist of the centre, suggested that it is better to ask Kannan
to stop climbing trees and manage his cardiac symptom with medications. A surgeon disagreed and asked Shankar, "What will he do for living?"
"Why, he could sell some eatables in front of a toddy shop. He won't have
symptoms then."
The surgeon laughed derisively and said, "We should do our best for this case. In 144
