Report of 15 Jan 2012
Happy Pongal!
It's the harvest festival today, and is a merry time. Our cook's little daughter and nephew have brought me some traditional foods prepared at their house, especially the sweet pongal - rice made with brown sugar and cashews and butter. It is considered good luck to eat this today, and as it's not usually made in our house, our cook likes to make sure we get our fair share of the good luck. Nice of her. The 2 young couriers were delightful in their new clothes and chatter.
The Banyan has been fun, as always. BALM held a seminar on "Employing the disabled" and it was excellent. There were intellectual glitterati from several spheres, and I learnt a lot. We were privileged to have Vaishnavi, the other founder of the Banyan, with us. Vaish has taken to doing other things now, and is a powerfully intelligent (having taught herself computer networking, and medicine) young woman with quieter ways; she writes extremely well and has a fine sense of humor. She is also given to seeing the perspective often less seen, and I usually sit mouth agape as she takes apart a concept, or puts forth some issues to be addressed with the Government, or offers yet another prospect for us to consider. I tell you, it is nice to work with intelligent people.
The seminar also had 3 success stories of Banyan women successfully employed. One of them now makes enough money to have her daughter with her, and they live in a house with a few other women; she stated that the fan and TV (an integral part of several Indian households - maybe not just Indian, huh) were paid for by her and that her daughter's expenses were met by her. She was visibly proud as she narrated this and I was pleased. She also thanked the crowd for their affection and attention in listening to her, and that was extremely humbling. I have met the daughter - a bit dour on the day I met her as she was ill - and am pleased that she is with her mother now. Several of our residents' children are in orphanages and boarding schools until the mothers can care for them. Our college-going next gen lady, Kaiser, is now in her 2nd year at a local college and thoroughly enjoying herself. She comes to the B on holidays, and is then everyone's daughter coming home for the college break. Her mother is okay, but not well enough to care for Kaiser on her own and Kaiser is so enjoying being in the dorm at college that she will be left there. We have gone to visit her there off and on, with sweets or chocolates in hand, and Kaiser is usually gabbing with a gang of friends when we have gone. She is visually impaired, but nothing stops her from enjoying life.
The B is undergoing renovations and the sick room - where the acutely physically ill are housed - has been shifted twice. It is now in a fairly airy area of the 2nd floor, and the patients seem happy. We have had unexpected rains, but hope that the dreaded gastroenteritis, which will result when sewage contamination of regular water ensues, will be kept at bay.
Naren is off in Bangalore today, performing at a pub with a theater group from here. Navin sent a note stating that his mid-terms had finished. Scott will visit him today, and then leave for South Carolina, where he has an assignment. I went to visit a friend of my mother's, widowed for around 3 years and very lonely; we had lunch together at her house. Ms. S is very wealthy and childless, and feels that she is being engaged by friends and relatives who appear to be nice to her only for the sake of her wealth. What an appalling state of affairs, my sister-in-law Susan and I agreed. I think for those who do not have interests to pursue, loneliness can be overwhelming. There are certainly things to do in Chennai, but I think Ms. S does not have the wherewithal to pursue any of them.
The training of the health care workers goes along swimmingly and I am very fond of these bright young ladies. We now have them role-playing various situations at work with the patients, in an effort to remind them of the need to treat patients with love and care. We are aware that they are short-staffed and overworked, and it must be tough to keep calm when the same patient asks for the umpteenth time to be sent home. The role play went well as did the class on the importance of vital signs. It is wonderful to work with such interested students! After the classes, I passed out some sinfully good, "foreign" (i.e., not Indian and thus, novel) cookies that visiting student Neelima's mother had kindly sent me and they were well-received; I got lots of thanks in return. Naren and I certainly do not need more sugar sitting around our house, and it has gone to those who would otherwise not have a chance to taste such goodies.
No movies this week. "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" played for 1 or 2 weeks and pushed off before we had a chance to book; I am disappointed, but perhaps we'll catch others. In D.C., I had wanted to see "Shame" - being a huge Michael Fassbender fan - but Scott and I were busy sleeping and eating out and shopping to fit the flick in. Given the content of the movie, I can guarantee that it will never make it here. Shame. :)
Unw -
R
It's the harvest festival today, and is a merry time. Our cook's little daughter and nephew have brought me some traditional foods prepared at their house, especially the sweet pongal - rice made with brown sugar and cashews and butter. It is considered good luck to eat this today, and as it's not usually made in our house, our cook likes to make sure we get our fair share of the good luck. Nice of her. The 2 young couriers were delightful in their new clothes and chatter.
The Banyan has been fun, as always. BALM held a seminar on "Employing the disabled" and it was excellent. There were intellectual glitterati from several spheres, and I learnt a lot. We were privileged to have Vaishnavi, the other founder of the Banyan, with us. Vaish has taken to doing other things now, and is a powerfully intelligent (having taught herself computer networking, and medicine) young woman with quieter ways; she writes extremely well and has a fine sense of humor. She is also given to seeing the perspective often less seen, and I usually sit mouth agape as she takes apart a concept, or puts forth some issues to be addressed with the Government, or offers yet another prospect for us to consider. I tell you, it is nice to work with intelligent people.
The seminar also had 3 success stories of Banyan women successfully employed. One of them now makes enough money to have her daughter with her, and they live in a house with a few other women; she stated that the fan and TV (an integral part of several Indian households - maybe not just Indian, huh) were paid for by her and that her daughter's expenses were met by her. She was visibly proud as she narrated this and I was pleased. She also thanked the crowd for their affection and attention in listening to her, and that was extremely humbling. I have met the daughter - a bit dour on the day I met her as she was ill - and am pleased that she is with her mother now. Several of our residents' children are in orphanages and boarding schools until the mothers can care for them. Our college-going next gen lady, Kaiser, is now in her 2nd year at a local college and thoroughly enjoying herself. She comes to the B on holidays, and is then everyone's daughter coming home for the college break. Her mother is okay, but not well enough to care for Kaiser on her own and Kaiser is so enjoying being in the dorm at college that she will be left there. We have gone to visit her there off and on, with sweets or chocolates in hand, and Kaiser is usually gabbing with a gang of friends when we have gone. She is visually impaired, but nothing stops her from enjoying life.
The B is undergoing renovations and the sick room - where the acutely physically ill are housed - has been shifted twice. It is now in a fairly airy area of the 2nd floor, and the patients seem happy. We have had unexpected rains, but hope that the dreaded gastroenteritis, which will result when sewage contamination of regular water ensues, will be kept at bay.
Naren is off in Bangalore today, performing at a pub with a theater group from here. Navin sent a note stating that his mid-terms had finished. Scott will visit him today, and then leave for South Carolina, where he has an assignment. I went to visit a friend of my mother's, widowed for around 3 years and very lonely; we had lunch together at her house. Ms. S is very wealthy and childless, and feels that she is being engaged by friends and relatives who appear to be nice to her only for the sake of her wealth. What an appalling state of affairs, my sister-in-law Susan and I agreed. I think for those who do not have interests to pursue, loneliness can be overwhelming. There are certainly things to do in Chennai, but I think Ms. S does not have the wherewithal to pursue any of them.
The training of the health care workers goes along swimmingly and I am very fond of these bright young ladies. We now have them role-playing various situations at work with the patients, in an effort to remind them of the need to treat patients with love and care. We are aware that they are short-staffed and overworked, and it must be tough to keep calm when the same patient asks for the umpteenth time to be sent home. The role play went well as did the class on the importance of vital signs. It is wonderful to work with such interested students! After the classes, I passed out some sinfully good, "foreign" (i.e., not Indian and thus, novel) cookies that visiting student Neelima's mother had kindly sent me and they were well-received; I got lots of thanks in return. Naren and I certainly do not need more sugar sitting around our house, and it has gone to those who would otherwise not have a chance to taste such goodies.
No movies this week. "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" played for 1 or 2 weeks and pushed off before we had a chance to book; I am disappointed, but perhaps we'll catch others. In D.C., I had wanted to see "Shame" - being a huge Michael Fassbender fan - but Scott and I were busy sleeping and eating out and shopping to fit the flick in. Given the content of the movie, I can guarantee that it will never make it here. Shame. :)
Unw -
R
posted by Renu Weiss at
1:42 PM
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