Report of 6 Nov '05
Cloudy, wet and dark -
A far cry from the sunshine that existed last week. We are historically an agricultural nation and love rain; the Weiss family views it w/ some trepidation bcos our flat leaks.
We returned today from Delhi. It was a very nice trip - very illuminating. Delhi is a beautiful city and as I admired it, our cousin's daughter said it's a pampered place as it is the capital and flush w/ dignitaries, blah blah. We attempted to see the Taj and it was closed the day we trekked over there (a 3-hour drive). This was the most enlightening part of all: we are so unused to attractions closing (it did not happen to us in the U.S., it does not happen in Madurai) that we had not bothered to check ahead of time. Priceless lesson to all. So hear ye - the Taj is closed on Fridays.
However, there is much to see in Delhi. We saw glories that the Mughal emperors left us, and learnt of the lure of India to many plunderers and conquerors. There was a very lovely museum documenting the entire freedom struggle that we could not get through in the time that we were there, and we made plans to return to see it (and the Taj :) ). We met up with cousins there; I have been away from India for 20 years - in that time, cousins have married and procreated, folks have passed away, others have moved. It is to my great delight that the Coorgi cousins in Delhi have married lovely young women and have exceedingly nice kids. My father was at the conference of the Association of Plastic Surgeons of India, in Delhi also, and our stays overlapped one day; we made plans to meet the cousins and families, and my nephew in law school in Delhi, at a somewhat upscale but highly recommended restaurant. It was a spectacular evening, w/ all the kids (7 of 'em)at one table thoroughly enjoying each other, the adults at another and the evening punctuated by lively conversation and brilliant flashes of humor. The food was awesome - tandoor meats and fish, and that added to the grandeur of the evening. My father is not Coorgi (thank goodness, bcos Coorg is not renowned for any intellectual prowess) and had been ostracised by many of my mother's relatives for that very reason and bcos he is dark-skinned (this country is stupidly obsessed w/ skin color); these cousins will have none of that. We are another generation altogether and these folks like my Dad a lot. My mother could not travel and we missed her joie de vie (which Coorgis are renowned for) and her sense of humor also, not to mention her grace and her sense of hospitality.
At a popular market in Delhi, I noticed a crowd gathered around something. When I got closer, I saw that "something" was a woman on the ground, unresponsive. Her relatives were all a-dither and so I bellowed, "I am a doctor, can I help?" The woman came around after several seconds, my Hindi is not good enough to take a history and so I had to ask her daughter to do the deed in English. I never think that what I do is extraordinary, and it emerged quickly that the woman was probably having a heart attack. We packed her off to the ER, and the 3 Weiss men and I continued on our way. My family has this protocol down to a science; they wait away from the action for my signal to bring something or take my bag, etc., and it has become old hat for them to see me respond to emergencies. We used to do more of this in the U.S. as it is just a tad riskier for a woman alone to respond in India - legal issues set in, the party responsible for an accident tries to threaten the doctor to change the findings, etc. But we respond when we can.
On the flight back, the service was so good (as it was on the ongoing) that I filled out a comment card w/ compliments. It was a quick gesture for me, but the crew glowed. (No offence to those in the U.S., but we sort of got used to snarling flight attendants there and total lack of food; it was a change from prior, when service and food used to be good.) An older gentleman was sitting behind us and when he stood up, I noticed that he was shorter than I and I asked if he needed help getting his suitcase down. His neighbor got the bag down, and the man thanked him but also put his hand on my head and blessed me with such sincerity that I was extremely moved; all this for one little gesture, just a few words (and I hadn't even got him the bag). What a lovely world we live in.
Back to the Banyan this week. Back to work, back to helping heal. This is a great job.
"The defect of equality is that we desire it only with our superiors." - Henry Becque
Unw -
Renu
A far cry from the sunshine that existed last week. We are historically an agricultural nation and love rain; the Weiss family views it w/ some trepidation bcos our flat leaks.
We returned today from Delhi. It was a very nice trip - very illuminating. Delhi is a beautiful city and as I admired it, our cousin's daughter said it's a pampered place as it is the capital and flush w/ dignitaries, blah blah. We attempted to see the Taj and it was closed the day we trekked over there (a 3-hour drive). This was the most enlightening part of all: we are so unused to attractions closing (it did not happen to us in the U.S., it does not happen in Madurai) that we had not bothered to check ahead of time. Priceless lesson to all. So hear ye - the Taj is closed on Fridays.
However, there is much to see in Delhi. We saw glories that the Mughal emperors left us, and learnt of the lure of India to many plunderers and conquerors. There was a very lovely museum documenting the entire freedom struggle that we could not get through in the time that we were there, and we made plans to return to see it (and the Taj :) ). We met up with cousins there; I have been away from India for 20 years - in that time, cousins have married and procreated, folks have passed away, others have moved. It is to my great delight that the Coorgi cousins in Delhi have married lovely young women and have exceedingly nice kids. My father was at the conference of the Association of Plastic Surgeons of India, in Delhi also, and our stays overlapped one day; we made plans to meet the cousins and families, and my nephew in law school in Delhi, at a somewhat upscale but highly recommended restaurant. It was a spectacular evening, w/ all the kids (7 of 'em)at one table thoroughly enjoying each other, the adults at another and the evening punctuated by lively conversation and brilliant flashes of humor. The food was awesome - tandoor meats and fish, and that added to the grandeur of the evening. My father is not Coorgi (thank goodness, bcos Coorg is not renowned for any intellectual prowess) and had been ostracised by many of my mother's relatives for that very reason and bcos he is dark-skinned (this country is stupidly obsessed w/ skin color); these cousins will have none of that. We are another generation altogether and these folks like my Dad a lot. My mother could not travel and we missed her joie de vie (which Coorgis are renowned for) and her sense of humor also, not to mention her grace and her sense of hospitality.
At a popular market in Delhi, I noticed a crowd gathered around something. When I got closer, I saw that "something" was a woman on the ground, unresponsive. Her relatives were all a-dither and so I bellowed, "I am a doctor, can I help?" The woman came around after several seconds, my Hindi is not good enough to take a history and so I had to ask her daughter to do the deed in English. I never think that what I do is extraordinary, and it emerged quickly that the woman was probably having a heart attack. We packed her off to the ER, and the 3 Weiss men and I continued on our way. My family has this protocol down to a science; they wait away from the action for my signal to bring something or take my bag, etc., and it has become old hat for them to see me respond to emergencies. We used to do more of this in the U.S. as it is just a tad riskier for a woman alone to respond in India - legal issues set in, the party responsible for an accident tries to threaten the doctor to change the findings, etc. But we respond when we can.
On the flight back, the service was so good (as it was on the ongoing) that I filled out a comment card w/ compliments. It was a quick gesture for me, but the crew glowed. (No offence to those in the U.S., but we sort of got used to snarling flight attendants there and total lack of food; it was a change from prior, when service and food used to be good.) An older gentleman was sitting behind us and when he stood up, I noticed that he was shorter than I and I asked if he needed help getting his suitcase down. His neighbor got the bag down, and the man thanked him but also put his hand on my head and blessed me with such sincerity that I was extremely moved; all this for one little gesture, just a few words (and I hadn't even got him the bag). What a lovely world we live in.
Back to the Banyan this week. Back to work, back to helping heal. This is a great job.
"The defect of equality is that we desire it only with our superiors." - Henry Becque
Unw -
Renu
posted by Renu Weiss at
8:59 PM
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