Renu's Week

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Report of 25 Nov '12

Good evening from Chennai!

Scott is on the bigger sofa (he is a foot taller :) ) reading a book on Lean that our friend, John Sparzo, gave him; Naren is out rehearsing; I am blogging.  We are invited to dinner, but I have an attack of pink eye (or "Madras eye" as it is called - conjunctivitis) and think I will infect all the attendees if I do go. 

The Banyan has been very busy.  We have a couple of enthusiastic volunteers who will not let issues drop off our attention spans and I greatly appreciate this.  An organisation such as ours needs such diligence.

One of our patients, Ms. S, is HIV+ and had been on Siddha medication.  On one of her most recent follow-ups, they found that the cells in her blood that are needed to fight infections (white blood cells) had decreased, and she has been started on Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART).  She had to be admitted in the hospital while all this went on and now she is back, to my great delight.  She's a fine one, Ms. S - ostensibly from Mumbai, was found wandering around half-clad, and she is now with us, healing nicely.  She speaks excellent Tamil (not an easy language to learn, given her mother tongue is something else) and is always cheerful, with flowers in her hair and a genial greeting to me when I come in.  She works at the B, and does a good job.  She is extremely attractive - sensuous and sensual - and makes a pretty picture.  She likely has family elsewhere, but does not mope or speak of them, and has quite naturally adopted us as her new family.  As she was on the streets, perhaps we are an improvement over what befell her there.  Isn't it amazing how much the soul can endure and still smile.

Classes for the health care workers have resumed and last week, we spoke of dengue.  It was a fine session, with lots of interaction and questions.  These young women are truly a teacher's delight.

Scott and I saw "The life of Pi," and it was excellent.  Naren and his friend, Karan, had auditioned for it a few years ago and I was determined to not like the flick as neither young man was selected.  Suraj Sharma, the actor, has done a fine job, carrying the movie almost on his own; it is difficult to sustain a one-person flick ("Castaway," "127 hours") and he did it, with Ang Lee's capable help.  The movie was lovingly filmed and both Scott and I enjoyed it.

It is almost Christmas season and that means the plays and shows featuring Christmas music are here; usually, the performances benefit some noble cause and we merrily overpay and lap up the music.  Yesterday was one such play - "Stand by my side" - and it was excellent.  Needless to say, I bawled through some of it, and am always moved by Christmas music, especially "Oh, holy night." The tendency to treat Christmas as a giant buy-fest does not exist here, for which I am very grateful.

A wonderful thing happened earlier this week: we got to see my niece, Ahana.  We don't see her very much, for various reasons, and this time was a treat.  We met at McDonald's, had a meal, handed over some gifts, and listened to her talk and share; she was genial, fun, cordial, respectful and a complete treat.  We had a spectacular and memorable time, which I was thankful for.

I got to talk to my Dad briefly and he was very busy, so we'll catch up later.

Hope you have spectacular and memorable times of your own.

Unw -

R      

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