Report of 01 Jan 2012
Happy New Year!
The blog is still makkarfying (causing hassles), so I'll have to write thus.
It has been a nice couple of weeks. The students were good fun, and to a person, appear to have liked the Banyan. This is the first time students have spent 2 weeks here. (A beloved friend, Greg Brown, came as a student, then an intern, resident and attending - the latter 3 in the "Banyan fan and good friend" category. The most recent time, he brought a love interest, Luciana, who quickly became our love interest, also, she is that sweet and accepting of all of India.) The students have worked hard at doing physical exams on the patients, very thorough ones which I have not had the resources to do. We have picked up all manner of pathology and that is good for the patients, students and us. They also conducted a class for the health care workers and experienced the same joy I have, time after time - the interest from avid health care workers who want to learn and learn, and do, and heal, and cure. The session was good learning, and easily overran the time allotted.
The students finished up their time with an entertainment performance. This was to be in the nature of a fundraiser, but that was logistically infeasible during the holiday break, so, at Naren's suggestion, the students performed for the residents. And it was well worth the effort. They did a Texas line dance, and it was fun - replete with the performers in blue jeans and cowboy boots. The crowd loved the novelty of it, and the zeal and consideration of the students in performing for us, and the students had to do an encore. Naren and I danced to a new Tamil hit named "Kolaveri." It's a slow song, and not a pounding Bollywood number, but it was fun to dance with my son. He was the only man to perform, and a man dancing, of course, made the residents very happy. There was a finale, with many of the residents climbing up on stage and dancing, and Vandana and I watched Ms. E, the lady mentioned in my previous report: she danced in perfect rhythm, with pure joy and a wide smile, feeling the music and moving in perfect time - the trauma of her past as a sex worker all but forgotten, the core-rattling of her brother selling her into the profession submerged under wonderful, therapeutic music and dance. It was riveting and inspirational to watch her, and Vandana and I shared the same sentiment: what on earth do we complain for - that our bellies bulge and our pants don't fit and our skin is sallow. A look at Ms. E and all these concerns seem minuscule.
There is another patient who speaks English, and she shared her story with the students: one of drug use and drifting away from her family. There have been men and at least one child, and it appears that the drug use phase has passed, and Ms. T is ready to reconcile with her family. Her brother had come the other day and that I always find heavenly: our ladies crave family contact and said families usually don't contact. So we become the surrogate family, and try to do our best for the patients, and know for a fact that we would also, in addition to the residents, give a lot to have their families visit.
I forgot to mention that one of the gifts the students gave me is a framed photo of the 5 of us, outside the Banyan, all smiling and in Indian clothes and revelling in the pure joy that the Banyan is. It is a very nice picture, and is a good memento of the students' time here.
For New Year's Eve, a friend got us subsidised tickets to a party, and all 6 of us went. I danced practically from the time we got to the Boat Club, moving away only to rest my ears from the booming music. My friend's whole family was there, including his mother, who is a dear friend also, and we spent a very pleasant evening. The students mentioned having fun, too. Naren dropped all of us home and went to another party ('tis the age, is it not), then meeting up with his girlfriend. I had brought the lovely (inside and out) young lady a tank top from the U.S., and she told Naren she liked it; when I was shopping with Scott and had picked it out, he said, "You see, this is the difference between men and women. You buy her something sexy, I would have bought her a turtleneck." I laughed out loud at this - in the store and all the way to the car. Naren agreed with his father.
On New Year's Day, we visited some friends to seek their blessings and luxuriate in their affection, and had a most lovely visit. We also got together with the students for dinner at our house, and exit interviews, and that lasted 5 hours - full of chatter, their intelligence manifesting in wonderful ways, and laughter.
Let me end by wishing you a very happy and healthy New Year - 2012. May you get what you seek.
Unw -
R
The blog is still makkarfying (causing hassles), so I'll have to write thus.
It has been a nice couple of weeks. The students were good fun, and to a person, appear to have liked the Banyan. This is the first time students have spent 2 weeks here. (A beloved friend, Greg Brown, came as a student, then an intern, resident and attending - the latter 3 in the "Banyan fan and good friend" category. The most recent time, he brought a love interest, Luciana, who quickly became our love interest, also, she is that sweet and accepting of all of India.) The students have worked hard at doing physical exams on the patients, very thorough ones which I have not had the resources to do. We have picked up all manner of pathology and that is good for the patients, students and us. They also conducted a class for the health care workers and experienced the same joy I have, time after time - the interest from avid health care workers who want to learn and learn, and do, and heal, and cure. The session was good learning, and easily overran the time allotted.
The students finished up their time with an entertainment performance. This was to be in the nature of a fundraiser, but that was logistically infeasible during the holiday break, so, at Naren's suggestion, the students performed for the residents. And it was well worth the effort. They did a Texas line dance, and it was fun - replete with the performers in blue jeans and cowboy boots. The crowd loved the novelty of it, and the zeal and consideration of the students in performing for us, and the students had to do an encore. Naren and I danced to a new Tamil hit named "Kolaveri." It's a slow song, and not a pounding Bollywood number, but it was fun to dance with my son. He was the only man to perform, and a man dancing, of course, made the residents very happy. There was a finale, with many of the residents climbing up on stage and dancing, and Vandana and I watched Ms. E, the lady mentioned in my previous report: she danced in perfect rhythm, with pure joy and a wide smile, feeling the music and moving in perfect time - the trauma of her past as a sex worker all but forgotten, the core-rattling of her brother selling her into the profession submerged under wonderful, therapeutic music and dance. It was riveting and inspirational to watch her, and Vandana and I shared the same sentiment: what on earth do we complain for - that our bellies bulge and our pants don't fit and our skin is sallow. A look at Ms. E and all these concerns seem minuscule.
There is another patient who speaks English, and she shared her story with the students: one of drug use and drifting away from her family. There have been men and at least one child, and it appears that the drug use phase has passed, and Ms. T is ready to reconcile with her family. Her brother had come the other day and that I always find heavenly: our ladies crave family contact and said families usually don't contact. So we become the surrogate family, and try to do our best for the patients, and know for a fact that we would also, in addition to the residents, give a lot to have their families visit.
I forgot to mention that one of the gifts the students gave me is a framed photo of the 5 of us, outside the Banyan, all smiling and in Indian clothes and revelling in the pure joy that the Banyan is. It is a very nice picture, and is a good memento of the students' time here.
For New Year's Eve, a friend got us subsidised tickets to a party, and all 6 of us went. I danced practically from the time we got to the Boat Club, moving away only to rest my ears from the booming music. My friend's whole family was there, including his mother, who is a dear friend also, and we spent a very pleasant evening. The students mentioned having fun, too. Naren dropped all of us home and went to another party ('tis the age, is it not), then meeting up with his girlfriend. I had brought the lovely (inside and out) young lady a tank top from the U.S., and she told Naren she liked it; when I was shopping with Scott and had picked it out, he said, "You see, this is the difference between men and women. You buy her something sexy, I would have bought her a turtleneck." I laughed out loud at this - in the store and all the way to the car. Naren agreed with his father.
On New Year's Day, we visited some friends to seek their blessings and luxuriate in their affection, and had a most lovely visit. We also got together with the students for dinner at our house, and exit interviews, and that lasted 5 hours - full of chatter, their intelligence manifesting in wonderful ways, and laughter.
Let me end by wishing you a very happy and healthy New Year - 2012. May you get what you seek.
Unw -
R
posted by Renu Weiss at
8:37 PM
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