Report of 29 Jan 2006
Hello from bright, sunny Chennai -
No option of Seasonal Affective Disorder here due to lack of sun or presence of grey skies, etc.
A virus has a stranglehold on me, and is getting worse w/ cough, etc., before it promises to get better. I think it very educational when doctors fall sick - can truly empathize w/ a patient's malaise when he/she has a cold, speaks of cooking any old dish for the kids and plopping back in bed, etc.
The Banyan is in the throes of a huge fundraiser, postponed from last year to 5 Feb. Scott and I have passes for a glittering evening w/ the stars doing some kind of Broadway production, and thanked the B for the generosity. As this event is consuming everyone, lots of things are sliding: timely arrival of my pickup, rotation of the current medical staff out of the sick room, etc. We can live w/ that, really, as it will end. The blood tests go out regularly, and I am glad because we have diagnosed leptospirosis in a young woman who is mentally ill and mentally retarded. She says nothing, so I had to rely on the caretaker who spoke of loss of appetite and fever; my suspicions of lepto and typhoid are low, esp after the recent floods, and I requested the blood test. I started treatment for this young lady, and she appears to be better.
Scott and I had to go to the U.S. Consulate to renew Naren's passport and that consumed quite the part of a day. We have generally had courteous and good service at the Consulate, which is welcome. U.S. citizens use a different entrance than the teeming masses waiting to get a visa to visit/study in the U.S. When I went to apply for my student visa 23 years ago, I went to stand in line at 6 AM and was late: the line had started forming at 4.
Someone else looked after tutoring for me as Scott and I were running errands. I am glad kids use the tutoring service, really. My intelligent, handsome spouse and I also went to lunch and a movie, then went to the beach until the virus reminded me it was time to notice it. It was a fun day, the kind that busy parents often don't have enough of. My brother, Vinu, is spending the weekend w/ us as his flat has no electricity or running water due to some maintenance problems, and we are happy to have his irreverent, opinionated, funny self here.
We were fortunate to have Gita the med student visit us, and she brought w/ her Greg Brown, who is from my med school. Greg spent 3 weeks in Vellore, and is to spend the rest of the time (10 days) travelling w/ his girlfriend. We had a lovely evening - speaking of India, the U.S., ways of life, dress, medicine. I am super glad folks wander in and out of our house. Greg is of above average intelligence and is able to see some good in India under the stench and filth. When we dropped him to check in at his hotel, apparently the clerk was rude. I was furious, and went in and told the manager of it: one of our strengths is our hospitality and if the doofus clerk couldn't show it, we really had little to showcase our place in the world. I believe there is a saying in Sanskrit that says the guest is God: Athithi Devo Bhava, I think. (More knowledgeable folks are welcome to correct me.)
"Visitors should behave in such a way that the host and hostess feel at home." - J. S. Farynski
Unw -
Renu
No option of Seasonal Affective Disorder here due to lack of sun or presence of grey skies, etc.
A virus has a stranglehold on me, and is getting worse w/ cough, etc., before it promises to get better. I think it very educational when doctors fall sick - can truly empathize w/ a patient's malaise when he/she has a cold, speaks of cooking any old dish for the kids and plopping back in bed, etc.
The Banyan is in the throes of a huge fundraiser, postponed from last year to 5 Feb. Scott and I have passes for a glittering evening w/ the stars doing some kind of Broadway production, and thanked the B for the generosity. As this event is consuming everyone, lots of things are sliding: timely arrival of my pickup, rotation of the current medical staff out of the sick room, etc. We can live w/ that, really, as it will end. The blood tests go out regularly, and I am glad because we have diagnosed leptospirosis in a young woman who is mentally ill and mentally retarded. She says nothing, so I had to rely on the caretaker who spoke of loss of appetite and fever; my suspicions of lepto and typhoid are low, esp after the recent floods, and I requested the blood test. I started treatment for this young lady, and she appears to be better.
Scott and I had to go to the U.S. Consulate to renew Naren's passport and that consumed quite the part of a day. We have generally had courteous and good service at the Consulate, which is welcome. U.S. citizens use a different entrance than the teeming masses waiting to get a visa to visit/study in the U.S. When I went to apply for my student visa 23 years ago, I went to stand in line at 6 AM and was late: the line had started forming at 4.
Someone else looked after tutoring for me as Scott and I were running errands. I am glad kids use the tutoring service, really. My intelligent, handsome spouse and I also went to lunch and a movie, then went to the beach until the virus reminded me it was time to notice it. It was a fun day, the kind that busy parents often don't have enough of. My brother, Vinu, is spending the weekend w/ us as his flat has no electricity or running water due to some maintenance problems, and we are happy to have his irreverent, opinionated, funny self here.
We were fortunate to have Gita the med student visit us, and she brought w/ her Greg Brown, who is from my med school. Greg spent 3 weeks in Vellore, and is to spend the rest of the time (10 days) travelling w/ his girlfriend. We had a lovely evening - speaking of India, the U.S., ways of life, dress, medicine. I am super glad folks wander in and out of our house. Greg is of above average intelligence and is able to see some good in India under the stench and filth. When we dropped him to check in at his hotel, apparently the clerk was rude. I was furious, and went in and told the manager of it: one of our strengths is our hospitality and if the doofus clerk couldn't show it, we really had little to showcase our place in the world. I believe there is a saying in Sanskrit that says the guest is God: Athithi Devo Bhava, I think. (More knowledgeable folks are welcome to correct me.)
"Visitors should behave in such a way that the host and hostess feel at home." - J. S. Farynski
Unw -
Renu
posted by Renu Weiss at
2:57 AM
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