Report of 17 Jan '09
Hello from the Internet cafe -
Today's Vandana's 38th b'day. How fantastic is it to celebrate 38, knowing you have launched a nationally-renowned organisation 15 years ago, and helped thousands of destitute, mentally ill women and countless families.
Life is alright. We celebrated the harvest festival last week with sweet pongal (rice cooked with jaggery or brown sugar, and ghee or clarified butter) and vats of sugar cane, which Navin and I ate with gusto. Naren and Scott preferred the easier-to-eat pongal, rather than gnaw like beavers on sticks.
I started tutoring Ms. E, the young lady who wanted to learn English. She is so bright, and so earnest, that tutoring her is quite a joy. She finds math easy, so you see, there is little wrong with her intellect. I had all the gifts of an education, including a wonderful American medical degree, and feel I must share. English is easy for those of us who learned it from an early age, but teaching it is a challenge: the Tamil-English dictionary could not easily explain to Ms. E what "stray" (as in 'dog') was, and gave a zillion meanings. But we'll plonk on.
There have been no patients coming by the flat in a bit, and I don't mind that. Naren and Navin need a lot of attention currently. 11-hour study days are quite the norm, and both boys are slowly realising the importance of doing well in board exams. Naren got the message some time ago, Navin is getting it now. Nothing like a sibling to reinforce such lessons.
Unw -
R
Today's Vandana's 38th b'day. How fantastic is it to celebrate 38, knowing you have launched a nationally-renowned organisation 15 years ago, and helped thousands of destitute, mentally ill women and countless families.
Life is alright. We celebrated the harvest festival last week with sweet pongal (rice cooked with jaggery or brown sugar, and ghee or clarified butter) and vats of sugar cane, which Navin and I ate with gusto. Naren and Scott preferred the easier-to-eat pongal, rather than gnaw like beavers on sticks.
I started tutoring Ms. E, the young lady who wanted to learn English. She is so bright, and so earnest, that tutoring her is quite a joy. She finds math easy, so you see, there is little wrong with her intellect. I had all the gifts of an education, including a wonderful American medical degree, and feel I must share. English is easy for those of us who learned it from an early age, but teaching it is a challenge: the Tamil-English dictionary could not easily explain to Ms. E what "stray" (as in 'dog') was, and gave a zillion meanings. But we'll plonk on.
There have been no patients coming by the flat in a bit, and I don't mind that. Naren and Navin need a lot of attention currently. 11-hour study days are quite the norm, and both boys are slowly realising the importance of doing well in board exams. Naren got the message some time ago, Navin is getting it now. Nothing like a sibling to reinforce such lessons.
Unw -
R
posted by Renu Weiss at
9:02 PM
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