Back in my hometown, armed with education and experience from the United Kingdom, I thought I was all set to save lives! But experience taught me very soon that saving lives in rural India is very, very different, and requires presence of mind and empathy much more than anything else. Where there are no labs to diagnose diseases, no anaesthetist and hardly any qualified nurses; where hygiene and nutrition are alien concepts, and specialists are unheard of; when going to the nearest big town is not an option for the patients, and they implicitly trust you, the friendly neighbourhood doctor to cure all diseases; when you do not have the required tools to perform a surgery, or when there is a power outage mid-way through a procedure; when you have to make a choice between taking a risk to save a life, and sticking to what is technically right... what would you do? I am just going to tell you what I did at each such turn in my life - hoping that it will guide you in your journey too!