Report of 7 Jan '07
Hello from Chennai -
How easy it has become to write '07, instead of the perennial struggle to remember the new year and not keep writing the old year in error. This year is clipping along w/ some speed.
The week was fine. The B had a mini-reunion of patients who have been successfully reintegrated w/ their families or in society. It was great! These patients continue their follow-up w/ the B's psychiatrists, and receive a small sum of money to come in for their reviews (as they/family members would otherwise lose a lot of income in taking a day off to make the trip). The B's able social workers ran the show, and talked of starting support groups and income-generating ventures. Then it was party time w/ games and food. One of the games was for 1 team to sing a song until the host terminated it, and for the other team to start a song w/ the letter of the last word of said song; this is called "Anthakshari" here and is hugely popular. The average Indian is bashful, so there was not a lot of zeal initially; I did notice that one father urged his daughter to sing when it was their team's turn. He then sat w/ a gentle but definitely proud smile on his face when the young woman sang. It was a lovely moment, worth remembering, esp in this country where daughters are still viewed as burdens and where the father-daughter bond is not always one strengthened by affection. Thank goodness for the good fortune of being born in a family where my parents could afford me and where my father thought his daughters came directly gift-wrapped from God.
One of our patients, Ms. N, returned. She had been at a temple here in August, and had met with an accident. Her replies to the police had not been coherent, so they'd shipped her off to the B. After able treatment, she was lucid and recovering, and provided us an address. The B wrote to this add, and Ms. N's son and daughter came to take her home, the relief in having located their mother very palpable. Well, Ms. N "relapsed," as they say here: she talks of her deceased husband as though he exists, refers to me as her daughter and tells her son imaginary things. The son is quite upset, and we told him that we'd have to keep Ms. N for a bit. She speaks Telugu, I don't, the son speaks both Telugu and Tamil, and when I asked him to translate for his mother, he was most reluctant; on some urging, it came out that Ms. N had just said Rajiv Gandhi's mother (both RG and his mother, Indira Gandhi, were our Prime Ministers) was related to her husband (likely not). I watched the son's anguish, and told him these behaviors were common characteristics of mental illness, so not to panic.
Tutoring was fine. 2 little girls came, and learned math from Naren and Navin, finishing up their session w/ doing the only 2 jigsaw puzzles that we have. We had a big treat this time: our friend in the U.S., Anastasia Settle (whom I'd just met last summer), had sent M&M's and we passed some out. Chocolate is a big treat and we were thrilled to get this package. We also got a huge package 2 days ago from Scott Semester, also a friend I met last summer; this package contained chocolate, movies, a book, a CD and a snowball each for Naren and Navin (obviously not in the original form). This package was also received w/ lots of joy. We were tremendously touched that newly-acquired friends would pamper us thus. We also got some antihistamines from Dr. Katasha Butler, whom I'd met while working at Citizens in 2005; these are a great joy for me, as I have drippy (i.e., nose-running, allergy-prone) family and friends.
Ok, let me wind up. Have a great week!
Unw -
R
How easy it has become to write '07, instead of the perennial struggle to remember the new year and not keep writing the old year in error. This year is clipping along w/ some speed.
The week was fine. The B had a mini-reunion of patients who have been successfully reintegrated w/ their families or in society. It was great! These patients continue their follow-up w/ the B's psychiatrists, and receive a small sum of money to come in for their reviews (as they/family members would otherwise lose a lot of income in taking a day off to make the trip). The B's able social workers ran the show, and talked of starting support groups and income-generating ventures. Then it was party time w/ games and food. One of the games was for 1 team to sing a song until the host terminated it, and for the other team to start a song w/ the letter of the last word of said song; this is called "Anthakshari" here and is hugely popular. The average Indian is bashful, so there was not a lot of zeal initially; I did notice that one father urged his daughter to sing when it was their team's turn. He then sat w/ a gentle but definitely proud smile on his face when the young woman sang. It was a lovely moment, worth remembering, esp in this country where daughters are still viewed as burdens and where the father-daughter bond is not always one strengthened by affection. Thank goodness for the good fortune of being born in a family where my parents could afford me and where my father thought his daughters came directly gift-wrapped from God.
One of our patients, Ms. N, returned. She had been at a temple here in August, and had met with an accident. Her replies to the police had not been coherent, so they'd shipped her off to the B. After able treatment, she was lucid and recovering, and provided us an address. The B wrote to this add, and Ms. N's son and daughter came to take her home, the relief in having located their mother very palpable. Well, Ms. N "relapsed," as they say here: she talks of her deceased husband as though he exists, refers to me as her daughter and tells her son imaginary things. The son is quite upset, and we told him that we'd have to keep Ms. N for a bit. She speaks Telugu, I don't, the son speaks both Telugu and Tamil, and when I asked him to translate for his mother, he was most reluctant; on some urging, it came out that Ms. N had just said Rajiv Gandhi's mother (both RG and his mother, Indira Gandhi, were our Prime Ministers) was related to her husband (likely not). I watched the son's anguish, and told him these behaviors were common characteristics of mental illness, so not to panic.
Tutoring was fine. 2 little girls came, and learned math from Naren and Navin, finishing up their session w/ doing the only 2 jigsaw puzzles that we have. We had a big treat this time: our friend in the U.S., Anastasia Settle (whom I'd just met last summer), had sent M&M's and we passed some out. Chocolate is a big treat and we were thrilled to get this package. We also got a huge package 2 days ago from Scott Semester, also a friend I met last summer; this package contained chocolate, movies, a book, a CD and a snowball each for Naren and Navin (obviously not in the original form). This package was also received w/ lots of joy. We were tremendously touched that newly-acquired friends would pamper us thus. We also got some antihistamines from Dr. Katasha Butler, whom I'd met while working at Citizens in 2005; these are a great joy for me, as I have drippy (i.e., nose-running, allergy-prone) family and friends.
Ok, let me wind up. Have a great week!
Unw -
R
posted by Renu Weiss at
11:29 PM
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