Second Many imagine a doctor’s life as a constant cycle of patient consultations, medical charts, and late-night calls. While that’s partly true, for Dr. Meera, there’s another world that keeps her grounded — her art studio.

Every Sunday morning, sunlight streams through the large window of her apartment, spilling across an easel covered with half-finished canvases. Instead of gloves, she wears a paint-splattered apron. Her palette bursts with colors as vivid as her imagination.

Painting, for Dr. Meera, is more than a hobby — it’s therapy. After a week of high-stakes decisions and life-saving treatments, she finds peace in slow brushstrokes and the quiet hum of her favorite jazz playlist. Each canvas tells a story, sometimes inspired by her patients’ resilience, other times by the places she’s dreamed of visiting.

She often says that art helps her bring empathy into her practice. “In medicine, you focus on precision; in art, you embrace imperfection,” she reflects. This balance, she believes, keeps her both emotionally and mentally agile.

Through exhibitions at local galleries, Dr. Meera has found a small but supportive community of fellow artists and admirers. Some are surprised to learn she’s a doctor — but to her, medicine and art are two sides of the same coin: both require patience, observation, and the desire to create something meaningful.