Report of 15 Jan 2006
Hello from sunny Chennai -
Naren and Scott are looking over some chemistry, Navin is off to do some handwriting as his is abysmal (Indian schools insist on legible writing) and I am emailing.
The week has been ok. N and N are back in school and I have increased my frequency at the Banyan. We have a nice young woman from Finland working in PR, and working here has been an adjustment for her. Her boyfriend is Indian, and she likes the work and the people here, but the working environment befuddles her. My brother, Vinu, told me early on to establish hierarchy clearly and show my subordinates who's boss. I scoffed at him, telling him that I treated everyone w/ respect, and sure enough my requests were always first and easily ignored: this is bcos the average Indian has no pride in his/her work and only works out of fear of the supervisor (and no one feared me). When my brother Manu was hospitalised, the neurosurgeon explained this to me, and we agreed this was very sad. Now I have an edge to my voice when I make a request, and tend to let everyone hear about it if said request/order is not carried out. This is not the way I'd like to work, but is the most effective strategy for the Indian milieu. My Finnish colleague is discovering this.
The driver of the B, Mr. J, who came to get me on Thursday had fallen and hurt his ribcage. He asked me about the injury, and said he was scared bcos it could lead to TB (tuberculosis). He said a neighbor of his had been beaten by the police on the ribcage, had been told he would contract TB, and died 6 months later. Apparently, the police would say, "You'll be dead in 6 months," as they beat prisoners. I enlightened the young man about TB and its mode of spread (not through police beatings), the possible causes of death of his neighbor, and attempted to reassure him. I noticed several other vehicles' occupants pausing to stare at us as they went by, and I imagine a passenger in the front seat was an oddity in itself, not to mention one in conversation w/ the driver (can't hobnob w/ the working class). After we got to the B, I examined Mr. J, realised it was a simple injury and prescribed an anti-inflammatory med. It felt nice to have educated a pt. The issue of police brutality is not one I'll currently tackle. One of the best pieces of advice from a mentor, Dr. Vohra: only do something about that which you can do something about.
We have a new pt at the B, one found wandering about and seen to have a fracture of the hipbone. (This is not uncommon; mentally ill pts are very prone to violence due to their illness, and we frequently get pts w/ unhealed fractures, etc., which always strikes me as very sad.) She has been operated on, and is now getting snotty: calling other patients "crazy" and insisting that her husband is a doctor and can take care of her. I tried the first few days to enlighten her about her fracture, and the need to keep her at the B. Now that she has started getting holier-than-thou and persists in calling the other pts names, I find that I am getting a bit irritated, and have deferred care of non-medical issues to our able psychiatrist. I don't like name-calling at the B: mental illness is an illness, much as physical illnesses are.
I punted the veg market this week as I could not find the time, and will return there next week as rounds are important - need to see how the pts are. Tutoring is going along swimmingly, and one little girl (student) this week had a birthday. As is custom here, the child brought sweets to share, I don't think could afford enough for the lot of us, and chose to give me one. I was honored, and we sang to her. As we were acutely short of tutors, I filled in, and this child was studying English w/o understanding a word of what she was reading. As I attempted to explain, I noticed her grasp was very quick and she caught on quickly. I do believe there should be more colleges in the local language: we will capitalise on folks' innate abilities, but will then tie them down to professional lives in Tamil Nadu as the local medium of instruction, Tamil, can only be understood well here. Each state in India has its own unique language, as different from the others as English from Portugese.
Scott and I had a most therapeutic evening at the beach yesterday, talking of life and laughing our guts out, dodging beggars, and watching a magnicent moon cast its shimmer on the waves. We had breakfast w/ my brother, Vinu, today and that was a blast. His girth and attempts to diet are subjects of endless jokes among all generations and all people, including himself. Scott leaves for Mysore tonight and will see Tina and Ahana, Vinu's wife and daughter, there tomorrow - Tina is still on maternity leave. Ahana is quite a cutie, and apparently as opinionated as the rest of us. I am glad my sibs-in-law and Scott vibe; they are what I call MIW's - Married into Weirdness - not unlike POW's, and must jell w/ each other in order to tolerate our many and unique idiosyncracies, poor things.
Ok, have a good week, all. We celebrated the Tamilian harvest festival, Pongal, y'day w/ sugarcane and multi-hued patterns on the ground ("kolam") made w/ rice flour and other colored powders.
"Nowadays they say you need a special chip to put in the TV so kids can't watch this and that. In my day, we didn't need a chip. My mum was the chip. End of story." - Ray Charles in Esquire
Unw -
Renu
Naren and Scott are looking over some chemistry, Navin is off to do some handwriting as his is abysmal (Indian schools insist on legible writing) and I am emailing.
The week has been ok. N and N are back in school and I have increased my frequency at the Banyan. We have a nice young woman from Finland working in PR, and working here has been an adjustment for her. Her boyfriend is Indian, and she likes the work and the people here, but the working environment befuddles her. My brother, Vinu, told me early on to establish hierarchy clearly and show my subordinates who's boss. I scoffed at him, telling him that I treated everyone w/ respect, and sure enough my requests were always first and easily ignored: this is bcos the average Indian has no pride in his/her work and only works out of fear of the supervisor (and no one feared me). When my brother Manu was hospitalised, the neurosurgeon explained this to me, and we agreed this was very sad. Now I have an edge to my voice when I make a request, and tend to let everyone hear about it if said request/order is not carried out. This is not the way I'd like to work, but is the most effective strategy for the Indian milieu. My Finnish colleague is discovering this.
The driver of the B, Mr. J, who came to get me on Thursday had fallen and hurt his ribcage. He asked me about the injury, and said he was scared bcos it could lead to TB (tuberculosis). He said a neighbor of his had been beaten by the police on the ribcage, had been told he would contract TB, and died 6 months later. Apparently, the police would say, "You'll be dead in 6 months," as they beat prisoners. I enlightened the young man about TB and its mode of spread (not through police beatings), the possible causes of death of his neighbor, and attempted to reassure him. I noticed several other vehicles' occupants pausing to stare at us as they went by, and I imagine a passenger in the front seat was an oddity in itself, not to mention one in conversation w/ the driver (can't hobnob w/ the working class). After we got to the B, I examined Mr. J, realised it was a simple injury and prescribed an anti-inflammatory med. It felt nice to have educated a pt. The issue of police brutality is not one I'll currently tackle. One of the best pieces of advice from a mentor, Dr. Vohra: only do something about that which you can do something about.
We have a new pt at the B, one found wandering about and seen to have a fracture of the hipbone. (This is not uncommon; mentally ill pts are very prone to violence due to their illness, and we frequently get pts w/ unhealed fractures, etc., which always strikes me as very sad.) She has been operated on, and is now getting snotty: calling other patients "crazy" and insisting that her husband is a doctor and can take care of her. I tried the first few days to enlighten her about her fracture, and the need to keep her at the B. Now that she has started getting holier-than-thou and persists in calling the other pts names, I find that I am getting a bit irritated, and have deferred care of non-medical issues to our able psychiatrist. I don't like name-calling at the B: mental illness is an illness, much as physical illnesses are.
I punted the veg market this week as I could not find the time, and will return there next week as rounds are important - need to see how the pts are. Tutoring is going along swimmingly, and one little girl (student) this week had a birthday. As is custom here, the child brought sweets to share, I don't think could afford enough for the lot of us, and chose to give me one. I was honored, and we sang to her. As we were acutely short of tutors, I filled in, and this child was studying English w/o understanding a word of what she was reading. As I attempted to explain, I noticed her grasp was very quick and she caught on quickly. I do believe there should be more colleges in the local language: we will capitalise on folks' innate abilities, but will then tie them down to professional lives in Tamil Nadu as the local medium of instruction, Tamil, can only be understood well here. Each state in India has its own unique language, as different from the others as English from Portugese.
Scott and I had a most therapeutic evening at the beach yesterday, talking of life and laughing our guts out, dodging beggars, and watching a magnicent moon cast its shimmer on the waves. We had breakfast w/ my brother, Vinu, today and that was a blast. His girth and attempts to diet are subjects of endless jokes among all generations and all people, including himself. Scott leaves for Mysore tonight and will see Tina and Ahana, Vinu's wife and daughter, there tomorrow - Tina is still on maternity leave. Ahana is quite a cutie, and apparently as opinionated as the rest of us. I am glad my sibs-in-law and Scott vibe; they are what I call MIW's - Married into Weirdness - not unlike POW's, and must jell w/ each other in order to tolerate our many and unique idiosyncracies, poor things.
Ok, have a good week, all. We celebrated the Tamilian harvest festival, Pongal, y'day w/ sugarcane and multi-hued patterns on the ground ("kolam") made w/ rice flour and other colored powders.
"Nowadays they say you need a special chip to put in the TV so kids can't watch this and that. In my day, we didn't need a chip. My mum was the chip. End of story." - Ray Charles in Esquire
Unw -
Renu
posted by Renu Weiss at
2:49 AM
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