Report of 25 Feb '07
Hello from the new blog spot -
It seems like my old posts have moved to this spot, so be it. It is sunny today and beautiful - the clothes are drying on our balcony, Naren is cramming phys, Navin just finished a handwriting exercise (an ongoing battle) and left to get some ice cream at the store, Scott is about to set some work for Naren and lunch is made. A friend is pregnant, and as her husband is half-Coorgi (like me), his aunts followed the Coorgi custom of sending a basket with meal and goodies to the pregnant lady (usually in the 9th month, to give her a break and share treats); the package (called "koopadhi") included Coorgi pork, which was apparently too abundant for the couple, so they sweetly sent us some. It is delicious and will make a great addition to lunch.
The B keeps in touch w/ me by phone and I heard this week of a young woman, Ms. A, getting pukey and unwell. She works in Vandana's house, having been treated of her mental illness enough to earn a living. (Her sister is JJ, my medical assistant and someone very dear to me: when JJ's own illness is under control, she is a brilliant clinician, extremely competent and simply rather "simpatica" - nice.) Ms. A has Hepatitis B, not sure how it was contracted (it's generally through blood products or sex), and we are going to give lessons on safe sex to all our residents, esp those that are in the working world. None of us wants to pass any judgement on their personal lives and choices, all of us definitely want them protected from disease, esp HIV.
The veg market was also fine. The vendors are anxious about Reliance opening its grocery chain. Reliance is a powerhouse business w/ interests in textiles, oil, cell phone connections, and is branching into fresh veges and fruit. Scott and I stumbled on their store in a different neighborhood 2 weeks ago, and found the quality of their produce absolutely superlative, and the prices low. We wonder if they will adopt Wal-mart's strategy of knocking the Mom-and-Pop stores out of business and then raising their prices.
Tutoring was good - short-handed again. Lessons went well, except w/ my student. She had flown through 2-digit additions last week, but was tremendously distracted w/ the same subject this week - unclear to me if it was from hunger, or something else. We don't have the resources to provide nourishment to these little people, or indeed anything else - this little girl's clothes were frayed at the knees and a wee bit too small for her. I remember learning in pediatrics that children's nourishment was vital to their development, and we are (collectively) doing a disservice if she does not get enough to eat. This is on many levels, the main of which is reining in our stupidity in not being able to control our population.
Scott and I got a rare break, and went to see "Blood Diamond." It was exceptionally dreadful. To make a movie tug at the heartstrings and influence behavior, everyone's acting must be sturdy; it was not, here. Jennifer Connelly tried hard to use her anatomy for effect, I guess Leonardo DiCaprio's accent enthralled viewers over there, and Djimon Hounsou looked a tad wooden but tried mightily to salvage the movie. I thought "Happy Feet" did a better job of promoting its cause. We saw "Babel" some time ago, and liked the magnificent performances of the Moroccans and Adriana Barraza. Some neighbors invited us over for their annual dance party last night, and we went and I danced almost all night - it was a blast.
Naren's mighty exams start on 28 February, Wednesday. He has been studying and being tutored in various subjects. We welcome and urge messages to him, including the stark reality that hard work will pay off, at narenweiss@hotmail.com.
"A young man who is not a radical about something is a pretty poor risk for education." - Jacques Barzun
Unw -
R
It seems like my old posts have moved to this spot, so be it. It is sunny today and beautiful - the clothes are drying on our balcony, Naren is cramming phys, Navin just finished a handwriting exercise (an ongoing battle) and left to get some ice cream at the store, Scott is about to set some work for Naren and lunch is made. A friend is pregnant, and as her husband is half-Coorgi (like me), his aunts followed the Coorgi custom of sending a basket with meal and goodies to the pregnant lady (usually in the 9th month, to give her a break and share treats); the package (called "koopadhi") included Coorgi pork, which was apparently too abundant for the couple, so they sweetly sent us some. It is delicious and will make a great addition to lunch.
The B keeps in touch w/ me by phone and I heard this week of a young woman, Ms. A, getting pukey and unwell. She works in Vandana's house, having been treated of her mental illness enough to earn a living. (Her sister is JJ, my medical assistant and someone very dear to me: when JJ's own illness is under control, she is a brilliant clinician, extremely competent and simply rather "simpatica" - nice.) Ms. A has Hepatitis B, not sure how it was contracted (it's generally through blood products or sex), and we are going to give lessons on safe sex to all our residents, esp those that are in the working world. None of us wants to pass any judgement on their personal lives and choices, all of us definitely want them protected from disease, esp HIV.
The veg market was also fine. The vendors are anxious about Reliance opening its grocery chain. Reliance is a powerhouse business w/ interests in textiles, oil, cell phone connections, and is branching into fresh veges and fruit. Scott and I stumbled on their store in a different neighborhood 2 weeks ago, and found the quality of their produce absolutely superlative, and the prices low. We wonder if they will adopt Wal-mart's strategy of knocking the Mom-and-Pop stores out of business and then raising their prices.
Tutoring was good - short-handed again. Lessons went well, except w/ my student. She had flown through 2-digit additions last week, but was tremendously distracted w/ the same subject this week - unclear to me if it was from hunger, or something else. We don't have the resources to provide nourishment to these little people, or indeed anything else - this little girl's clothes were frayed at the knees and a wee bit too small for her. I remember learning in pediatrics that children's nourishment was vital to their development, and we are (collectively) doing a disservice if she does not get enough to eat. This is on many levels, the main of which is reining in our stupidity in not being able to control our population.
Scott and I got a rare break, and went to see "Blood Diamond." It was exceptionally dreadful. To make a movie tug at the heartstrings and influence behavior, everyone's acting must be sturdy; it was not, here. Jennifer Connelly tried hard to use her anatomy for effect, I guess Leonardo DiCaprio's accent enthralled viewers over there, and Djimon Hounsou looked a tad wooden but tried mightily to salvage the movie. I thought "Happy Feet" did a better job of promoting its cause. We saw "Babel" some time ago, and liked the magnificent performances of the Moroccans and Adriana Barraza. Some neighbors invited us over for their annual dance party last night, and we went and I danced almost all night - it was a blast.
Naren's mighty exams start on 28 February, Wednesday. He has been studying and being tutored in various subjects. We welcome and urge messages to him, including the stark reality that hard work will pay off, at narenweiss@hotmail.com.
"A young man who is not a radical about something is a pretty poor risk for education." - Jacques Barzun
Unw -
R
posted by Renu Weiss at
9:51 PM
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