Report of 1 Oct '07
Hello from Chennai -
Scott and Navin are at the table looking over Navin's school work, Naren is on a school trip, and our guest, Andrea Schichan from Germany, is doing some computer work. It is nice to have Andrea here: she's a pediatric nurse, and brings w/ her solid common sense, ease of interacting w/ everyone and acceptance of new situations/surroundings. Awfully nice to have uncomplicated guests; we've had our share of demanding guests, and thus can easily appreciate those that are not.
I cannot get over the feeling that Ms. RR died because of something I overlooked. My attention is pretty consumed w/ the boys, as I have solo charge of them during the week, and I am afraid that my mind did not allow for much else. I'll know this week, when the post-mortem results come; a more detailed report will come a month later. Scott has been here for 3 days now, and leaves tomorrow, and it is a wonderful breath of fresh air to have my husband mess w/ school work for a change.
Ms. K, our HIV + pt who lost her son, was visited by her drunken husband last week. He told her to leave w/ him right away as the Banyan had "killed our son." The B's social workers were willing to send her w/ him, but after she got enough of her meds to last her a bit; ostensibly, the man could not wait, told Ms. K that she either leave w/ him then or all ties would be cut irrevocably, and left. I saw her the following day when Vandana came for a meeting, and she told Vandana about it in the odd fashion that she uses to communicate w/ everyone, and I patted her cheek. She leaned her face on my hand and I felt very bad for her: sad enough that she has lost her son, then this weird ultimatum from her husband. We will see in the coming weeks how Ms. K turns out. I am optimistic: she likes the B and thrives on praise.
Andrea and I attended a Continuing Medical Education seminar run ably by one of the best hospitals in Chennai: Sundaram Medical Foundation (SMF). It is frightfully nice to sit in a comfortable hall and listen to medical topics competently discussed. Added to that, SMF starts the sessions on time and sticks to the allotted time, a bloody big novelty in India, and that adds to my enjoyment.
As Andrea and I chat, as I see India through her eyes, I am discovering that there are certainly some things that we are doing right: the family support we get here molds our psyches enough to adjust to life anywhere - we have seen Westerners come and flounder mightily in India, itching to get back to the U.S., when there are millions of Indians living very happily overseas; Scott is continually impressed at the abundance of Indian female engineer co-workers, when intelligent young girls are told to conceal their intellect in the U.S.; the ease w/ which neighbors take care of each others' children here reminds me of the "It takes a village to raise a child" saying and reaffirms to me that the children cannot but get a sense of their worth when so many people care for them; poor people smile even in the midst of their abject poverty and take time out to ask me how I am, when they reel w/ fevers and malnutrition. It is lovely to be here, even lovelier to have a spouse who enjoys it.
"Few people can be happy unless they hate some other person, nation or creed." - Bertrand Russell
Unw -
R
Scott and Navin are at the table looking over Navin's school work, Naren is on a school trip, and our guest, Andrea Schichan from Germany, is doing some computer work. It is nice to have Andrea here: she's a pediatric nurse, and brings w/ her solid common sense, ease of interacting w/ everyone and acceptance of new situations/surroundings. Awfully nice to have uncomplicated guests; we've had our share of demanding guests, and thus can easily appreciate those that are not.
I cannot get over the feeling that Ms. RR died because of something I overlooked. My attention is pretty consumed w/ the boys, as I have solo charge of them during the week, and I am afraid that my mind did not allow for much else. I'll know this week, when the post-mortem results come; a more detailed report will come a month later. Scott has been here for 3 days now, and leaves tomorrow, and it is a wonderful breath of fresh air to have my husband mess w/ school work for a change.
Ms. K, our HIV + pt who lost her son, was visited by her drunken husband last week. He told her to leave w/ him right away as the Banyan had "killed our son." The B's social workers were willing to send her w/ him, but after she got enough of her meds to last her a bit; ostensibly, the man could not wait, told Ms. K that she either leave w/ him then or all ties would be cut irrevocably, and left. I saw her the following day when Vandana came for a meeting, and she told Vandana about it in the odd fashion that she uses to communicate w/ everyone, and I patted her cheek. She leaned her face on my hand and I felt very bad for her: sad enough that she has lost her son, then this weird ultimatum from her husband. We will see in the coming weeks how Ms. K turns out. I am optimistic: she likes the B and thrives on praise.
Andrea and I attended a Continuing Medical Education seminar run ably by one of the best hospitals in Chennai: Sundaram Medical Foundation (SMF). It is frightfully nice to sit in a comfortable hall and listen to medical topics competently discussed. Added to that, SMF starts the sessions on time and sticks to the allotted time, a bloody big novelty in India, and that adds to my enjoyment.
As Andrea and I chat, as I see India through her eyes, I am discovering that there are certainly some things that we are doing right: the family support we get here molds our psyches enough to adjust to life anywhere - we have seen Westerners come and flounder mightily in India, itching to get back to the U.S., when there are millions of Indians living very happily overseas; Scott is continually impressed at the abundance of Indian female engineer co-workers, when intelligent young girls are told to conceal their intellect in the U.S.; the ease w/ which neighbors take care of each others' children here reminds me of the "It takes a village to raise a child" saying and reaffirms to me that the children cannot but get a sense of their worth when so many people care for them; poor people smile even in the midst of their abject poverty and take time out to ask me how I am, when they reel w/ fevers and malnutrition. It is lovely to be here, even lovelier to have a spouse who enjoys it.
"Few people can be happy unless they hate some other person, nation or creed." - Bertrand Russell
Unw -
R
posted by Renu Weiss at
3:54 AM
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