Report of 8 Jan 2006
Hello from Chennai -
Boy, this is fatigue as we know it. The carnival finished today and 160 people showed up for it - about 100 kids and 60 adults. The adults choose to come I guess because we serve food free or because they like to see the children play games. The apartment complex's committee laid down several restrictions on this event; speculation was rife that the larger issue was that the "upper caste" didn't want the "lower caste" coming in and having a good time. India is full of indirect communication like this; I wish talk was as forthright as the U.S., but I guess manifest bigotry is a lot less appealing than couching it in terms such as "We don't want any disturbance to the residents." Anyway, a good time seemed to be had by all, and the host children had thought up some very creative games to play. We started to distribute some of the school supplies by lottery, as last time's goody-bag giveaway was chaos, and this time was similar chaos, so we suspended it. Parents came up and asked for the "gifts" and we turned them away.
The Banyan was fine. Ms. S w/ the limp has tuberculosis of the hip joint and needs surgery, so now the B will raise some money for it. In the interim, another orthopedic surgeon got into the act and wanted to look over her records; this was fine by us as long as someone could help her. One of the other residents is to be rehabed and settled outside the B; she cannot walk but states she can manage "outside life" well. She used to take a medicine called indomethacin for her pain and wants to get back on it; I saw no objection and have prescribed it. I watched Ms. A as she scooted her chair along, and was quite full of admiration: her husband has cheated her of all her money and left her, and she is full of only optimism about her proposed new life. The least we can do, I think, is try and get her a wheelchair, but I imagine our capable social workers are on it.
The vegetable market visit this week ended up like an outpatient clinic and most of the vendors lined up w/ complaints. I saw each one, and a 20-minute visit ended up being an hour. My sons and I were off to run errands, and this one was the longest; when I apologised to them, both were gracious enough to waive off any suggestion of inconvenience to them. We returned w/ more vegetables than we'd paid for, and were humbled by this.
Tutoring went well, w/ tons of kids coming. The 9th-grader who is tutored exclusively by Naren stood 7th in her class, up from 9th. She made a beeline for me at the end of tutoring to tell me, and I was pleased. Only w/ education will we lift these children out of poverty.
We had a few social items on our calendar, including a start-of-term party for both boys to invite whomever they wanted. So both genders were present for the first time, some of the parents also came by and a grand time was had by all. I'd rather Naren interacted this way w/ everyone, instead of solo dating which is not quite the norm here; as I'm discovering, a 14 yo dating is not quite the norm anywhere else, either. We had a medical student, Gita, from the U.S. over from her current rotation in Vellore, to spend the weekend, and had several neighbors over for brunch this am. India is not for the faint-hearted, esp in our profession, and I am quite in awe of folks who will tolerate it and even enjoy it.
Better wind up. Hope all are well. I was delighted that Texas won the Rose Bowl: hook 'em, horns! We spent 10 years in Texas and our loyalties are firm: Spurs, UT Austin, at one point the Cowboys.
"A pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds, and mopes; a philosopher sees both sides and shrugs; an optimist doesn't see the clouds at all - he's walking on them." - Leonard Louis Levinson
Unw -
Renu
Boy, this is fatigue as we know it. The carnival finished today and 160 people showed up for it - about 100 kids and 60 adults. The adults choose to come I guess because we serve food free or because they like to see the children play games. The apartment complex's committee laid down several restrictions on this event; speculation was rife that the larger issue was that the "upper caste" didn't want the "lower caste" coming in and having a good time. India is full of indirect communication like this; I wish talk was as forthright as the U.S., but I guess manifest bigotry is a lot less appealing than couching it in terms such as "We don't want any disturbance to the residents." Anyway, a good time seemed to be had by all, and the host children had thought up some very creative games to play. We started to distribute some of the school supplies by lottery, as last time's goody-bag giveaway was chaos, and this time was similar chaos, so we suspended it. Parents came up and asked for the "gifts" and we turned them away.
The Banyan was fine. Ms. S w/ the limp has tuberculosis of the hip joint and needs surgery, so now the B will raise some money for it. In the interim, another orthopedic surgeon got into the act and wanted to look over her records; this was fine by us as long as someone could help her. One of the other residents is to be rehabed and settled outside the B; she cannot walk but states she can manage "outside life" well. She used to take a medicine called indomethacin for her pain and wants to get back on it; I saw no objection and have prescribed it. I watched Ms. A as she scooted her chair along, and was quite full of admiration: her husband has cheated her of all her money and left her, and she is full of only optimism about her proposed new life. The least we can do, I think, is try and get her a wheelchair, but I imagine our capable social workers are on it.
The vegetable market visit this week ended up like an outpatient clinic and most of the vendors lined up w/ complaints. I saw each one, and a 20-minute visit ended up being an hour. My sons and I were off to run errands, and this one was the longest; when I apologised to them, both were gracious enough to waive off any suggestion of inconvenience to them. We returned w/ more vegetables than we'd paid for, and were humbled by this.
Tutoring went well, w/ tons of kids coming. The 9th-grader who is tutored exclusively by Naren stood 7th in her class, up from 9th. She made a beeline for me at the end of tutoring to tell me, and I was pleased. Only w/ education will we lift these children out of poverty.
We had a few social items on our calendar, including a start-of-term party for both boys to invite whomever they wanted. So both genders were present for the first time, some of the parents also came by and a grand time was had by all. I'd rather Naren interacted this way w/ everyone, instead of solo dating which is not quite the norm here; as I'm discovering, a 14 yo dating is not quite the norm anywhere else, either. We had a medical student, Gita, from the U.S. over from her current rotation in Vellore, to spend the weekend, and had several neighbors over for brunch this am. India is not for the faint-hearted, esp in our profession, and I am quite in awe of folks who will tolerate it and even enjoy it.
Better wind up. Hope all are well. I was delighted that Texas won the Rose Bowl: hook 'em, horns! We spent 10 years in Texas and our loyalties are firm: Spurs, UT Austin, at one point the Cowboys.
"A pessimist sees only the dark side of the clouds, and mopes; a philosopher sees both sides and shrugs; an optimist doesn't see the clouds at all - he's walking on them." - Leonard Louis Levinson
Unw -
Renu
posted by Renu Weiss at
2:44 AM
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