Report of 26 Dec '06
Phew - what an eventful couple of weeks.
I had to head to Bangalore posthaste 2 weeks ago, to accompany a most beloved uncle to a doctor's appointment. My mother's brother, Thammappa, had had longstanding anemia (low hemoglobin) which had not responded to iron injections. When I did become aware of this, and T's weight loss, I told my cousin Preeth that several more tests needed to be done; she told me an endoscopy (putting a tube down the esophagus and stomach and watching the images on a screen) was scheduled and I went to Bangalore to be with my uncle for the procedure. It is sometimes nice when a doctor's diagnosis is confirmed, and sometimes not; as I feared, my uncle has cancer of the stomach. I held up ok there, and discussed all the options w/ my uncle, aunt, cousin and cousin-in-law. The impact hit later. Thammappa is one of the few people who stood by my dark-skinned father's side, and welcomed him into their home, when the rest of Coorg took great pains to insult my Dad and consider him unworthy of his fair-skinned bride (my parents eloped and were only welcomed back much later by my mother's family, love marriages being very rare at the time) - Coorg is a bit stupid this way. To resist the mob mentality, when everyone was screaming for my father's blood, esp at Coorgi weddings and other functions which my parents would be invited to, truly requires great moral courage and integrity, and I am sorry that this magnificent man has a catastrophic illness. He's holding up well, tho'; my aunt ain't.
A virus accompanied me from B'lore and I had to coast through the kids' concerts and umpteen social events (Naren had invites to 4 parties) w/ a box of tissues and some precious antihistamines. We did catch our favorite Little Theatre's play, which raises scholarship money for underprivileged kids who could not otherwise attend college. We also saw Naren do silambam (an ancient South Indian dance form and martial art), and Navin play Timon in "The Lion King." Then we left for Kolkata and Mumbai on a short vacation. I know so little of my own heritage, and India has long contributed wondrous things to world civilization, which we ought to know about. We had a good time, and the boys met some cousins in Mumbai they didn't know they had and hit it off with. Yesterday, my brother Vinu took my sister Anu (and family) and us out for dinner at an all-you-can-eat buffet; it was fabulous to be w/ good people at Xmas, and eat, eat, eat.
Naren starts exam prep for his March Board exams now (w/ 2 mock exams in school), and Navin has to work seriously at his handwriting, so both boys will be busy. I am now at the B, which is holding up. We continue to struggle for bucks for our new health center and indeed, this is the story of our lives. Were it not a struggle to care for the indigent, a lot more people would be doing it, would they not.
Our blessings are many and varied; may you have some of your own this season and throughout 2007.
Unw -
R
I had to head to Bangalore posthaste 2 weeks ago, to accompany a most beloved uncle to a doctor's appointment. My mother's brother, Thammappa, had had longstanding anemia (low hemoglobin) which had not responded to iron injections. When I did become aware of this, and T's weight loss, I told my cousin Preeth that several more tests needed to be done; she told me an endoscopy (putting a tube down the esophagus and stomach and watching the images on a screen) was scheduled and I went to Bangalore to be with my uncle for the procedure. It is sometimes nice when a doctor's diagnosis is confirmed, and sometimes not; as I feared, my uncle has cancer of the stomach. I held up ok there, and discussed all the options w/ my uncle, aunt, cousin and cousin-in-law. The impact hit later. Thammappa is one of the few people who stood by my dark-skinned father's side, and welcomed him into their home, when the rest of Coorg took great pains to insult my Dad and consider him unworthy of his fair-skinned bride (my parents eloped and were only welcomed back much later by my mother's family, love marriages being very rare at the time) - Coorg is a bit stupid this way. To resist the mob mentality, when everyone was screaming for my father's blood, esp at Coorgi weddings and other functions which my parents would be invited to, truly requires great moral courage and integrity, and I am sorry that this magnificent man has a catastrophic illness. He's holding up well, tho'; my aunt ain't.
A virus accompanied me from B'lore and I had to coast through the kids' concerts and umpteen social events (Naren had invites to 4 parties) w/ a box of tissues and some precious antihistamines. We did catch our favorite Little Theatre's play, which raises scholarship money for underprivileged kids who could not otherwise attend college. We also saw Naren do silambam (an ancient South Indian dance form and martial art), and Navin play Timon in "The Lion King." Then we left for Kolkata and Mumbai on a short vacation. I know so little of my own heritage, and India has long contributed wondrous things to world civilization, which we ought to know about. We had a good time, and the boys met some cousins in Mumbai they didn't know they had and hit it off with. Yesterday, my brother Vinu took my sister Anu (and family) and us out for dinner at an all-you-can-eat buffet; it was fabulous to be w/ good people at Xmas, and eat, eat, eat.
Naren starts exam prep for his March Board exams now (w/ 2 mock exams in school), and Navin has to work seriously at his handwriting, so both boys will be busy. I am now at the B, which is holding up. We continue to struggle for bucks for our new health center and indeed, this is the story of our lives. Were it not a struggle to care for the indigent, a lot more people would be doing it, would they not.
Our blessings are many and varied; may you have some of your own this season and throughout 2007.
Unw -
R
posted by Renu Weiss at
10:26 PM
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