Renu's Week

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Report of 20 March 2011

Hello from Chennai and Happy Holi!

There is music blaring from downstairs, and squeals as people try to dodge the squirts of water and colored powder others are throwing on them. It is the harvest festival, imported from North India, and used to be the boys' favorite holiday. People wear old clothes - which they don't mind getting stained - and throw color, water, colored water, etc., as above. There are photos of the boys from previous years - unrecognizable due to the profusion of color on their faces.

I wondered if the music would bother Navin's studying and he said, "Once a year for 2 hours is really ok." I am glad to hear it, the perspective. Naren quickly dodged the color this morning and left for a meeting on International Theatre Day, which is next Sunday. He will be in a play with a friend of his, and we will see it if it's open to the public. We were not allowed to see his ramp walk, as it involved tight security - with all that gold.

Cetirizine is a great drug; sedates, however. I picked up a virus a few days ago, and could not do very much. I gargled madly, and kept the water poured down the old gullet, and feel better. I did pop the pill last night and slept like one, well, drugged. The days of sleeping through the night are likely over - wake up to see the time, if there is some noise, swat the mosquitoes - and last night, uninterrupted sleep was back for one night. I did wake up groggy, but the drippiness has gone. My pharmacy friend, Brent, ordered several bottles of cetirizine for me and boy, was I grateful: they are wonderful aids in my practice of medicine here. As are the ibuprofen, the tylenol, etc. Dispensing such things to the local impoverished people, when they need it, has earned me lots of smiles and greetings and discounted autorickshaw rides for the family.

Our neighbor's maid lost her husband recently. He was not a great provider and was alcoholic, thus the maid is not grieving. Her daughter, who is a college graduate (yes!!!), helped pay her father's medical bills. I talked to the young lady, Ms. E, for a bit the other day; I used to tutor her in English for her college English exam. We have tried to help her find a job worthy of her education and one that will pay well, because the family is extremely poor. Our leads have not been spectacularly successful, but Ms. E has some typical Indian reticence and bashfulness and has not followed up many of the leads. So, right after condoling the death, I had to tell her that jobs do not fall into laps and other such pieces of advice.

We went to listen to live music yesterday - a British singer-songwriter, who was very good. Then Naren's friend, Karan, played with his band. Naren and Aishvarrya came a little bit late, and Scott predicted that Aishvarrya would see us before Naren did. Sure enough. At her urging, they came and sat by us though we did not insist on it, and left before it ended due to other commitments. Aishvarrya is a sweet young woman and doing wonders for Naren's awareness of others.

Scott picked up the boys late one evening, and returned home; he had stopped at a red light when a bus decided to run it (very common here) and rear-ended him. Naren helped fight the good fight (also very common here, which is why foreign companies forbid their employees to drive here) in Tamil, and a police complaint was filed. Thankfully, no one was hurt, which our cook attributes to my mother's protective spirit, and there were plenty of lessons learnt - such as the importance to Scott and Navin of knowing Tamil.

Unw -

R

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home