The number 100 is a useful target, but the number is not really the point.
Travel repeatedly reminds me that professional life can create a very small universe. Doctors spend time with doctors. We talk about hospitals, patients, conferences and medicine. It can begin to feel like the whole world.
Then you spend days on the road with people whose lives have almost nothing in common with yours.
The International North-South Transport Corridor rally was one such experience for me. Travelling through Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran with a large group meant long conversations with entrepreneurs, businesspeople, wealth managers, people who had experienced hardship and people facing serious illness.
The scenery was memorable, but the conversations changed me more. They reminded me how many different definitions of success, suffering and happiness can coexist.
I prefer travel that allows that kind of encounter. I am less interested in collecting luxury hotels than in returning with a slightly larger understanding of people.
So yes, I would like to reach 100 countries. Not because I want a score. Because I would like to keep enlarging the world I think I know.
Suggested companion assets: one 8–12 minute YouTube conversation, 3–5 Shorts/Reels, 4–8 linked parent questions, and one quote/card for Instagram.
These essays share Dr. Rajiv’s reflections, interests and experiences beyond clinical guidance.