Patch Adams

The movie, a real life story about Hunter 'Patch' Adams (the founder of Gesundheit Clinic in West Virginia that treats patients by humour and pathos) from the beginning  had me, a morning person, glued to the screen at an unearthly hour of 12 am, thanks to the husband who is a 'night owl'. Not able to decide whether to sleep or watch, there was something magnetic about the events being unfurled on the screen that made me sit down and get into the 'deep flick watching mode' wherein the person in me disappears into some or the other character acting out there, depending on who I relate to at the moment'. The Einstein look alike character in the psychiatric ward, 'Arthur Mendelson's question: How many fingers do you see?' amused and got me thinking at the same time about the way a genius' mind works. The sentences Arthur utters when Patch answers 'eight' and the look on his face when he asks ' What do you see in me Arthur?' moved me. A super duper scientist,  a mathematician or those blessed with 'High IQ', those of the genius kinds: deep down somewhere, all they want is compassion, a helping human gesture which Patch shows by mending Arthur's leaking tea cup while he works his equations. Now I have come across a few who scoff at that, hiding behind the idea of being 'practical/logical'. Have always wondered, what makes man not show his emotional side ?

  "You treat a disease, you win, you loose. You treat a person, I guarantee you, you will win, no matter the outcome." says Robin Williams enacting Patch Adams in the movie. No words more powerful than this could mirror what has always been on my mind since my school days. In fact Granny's words rang in my ears 'Veena I think you can become a doctor' and the long forgotten desire to be a doctor albeit created by grandma resurfaced. The desire to live Patch's words got stronger. I wondered at the influence a cinema can have on human mind !