Report of 21 Dec 2012
Good morning!
Well, the world has not ended on this side of the planet.
How are all of you? We are well and busy. 5 medical students from my alma mater, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, are here to work with us for 2 weeks. They are enthusiastic, bright and fun; the Banyan staff and patients are elated to have them here. Students from overseas have a gentle way with our patients that we sometimes are too busy to adopt.
Kovalam has been hectic, and we simply clip along with what we have to do. That day, I had to teach as I could and the students rolled nicely with it. I then had to leave for a funeral service; my mother's best friend, Maggie Amritraj, lost her husband, and Scott and I went for the service. We reminisced with Mrs. Amritraj, and saw her celebrity tennis player sons. It is therapeutic for me to be with people who used to know my mother.
After I left Kovalam, the students were oriented by other staff. They then went shopping and we met at Adaikalam the following morning. The students do full physical exams on all the patients here - 180 in number. As with last year's group, this group has picked up issues we need to investigate further.
Naren was in the annual Christmas panto as the dame, i.e., a female character. A talented Indian designer made the dress and it was beautiful. He rocked the role and we went to see the show multiple times, heckling from the audience and dancing with him when he came near us. (The students also joined us for 1 of the shows and appeared to have enjoyed it.) Naren passed on a request from one of the crew, for me not to yell as the crew member enjoyed Naren's lines and did not want to miss any of them. This was a big dilemma, as it is genetically impossible for me not to yell at the panto. I discussed it (yes, it was that big a dilemma) with the family, then the director and producer, and the latter 2 told me I could do what I wanted. So, the crew person had to go jump, and I heckled to my heart's content. We were invited to the cast party and a British guest there told me that was exactly the point of the panto. Hooray.
The nation (and likely world) mourned the passing of Ravi Shankar. We were fortunate to have seen him and his daughter, Anoushka Shankar Wright, in concert a few years ago. The ONLY thing that struck me when he died was what a louse he was in the parenting department, siring children when he was 59 and 61, and then not maintaining any kind of genial/parental relationship with one of them. Parenting is a privilege, isn't it.
We saw a couple of excellent Tamil movies and are getting ready for Xmas. We Skyped with Navin on Sunday and that was grand fun - he has an understated sense of humor and I laughed out loud on many occasions.
We are privileged in our family. Hope you have fine times with your own.
Unw-
R
Well, the world has not ended on this side of the planet.
How are all of you? We are well and busy. 5 medical students from my alma mater, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, are here to work with us for 2 weeks. They are enthusiastic, bright and fun; the Banyan staff and patients are elated to have them here. Students from overseas have a gentle way with our patients that we sometimes are too busy to adopt.
Kovalam has been hectic, and we simply clip along with what we have to do. That day, I had to teach as I could and the students rolled nicely with it. I then had to leave for a funeral service; my mother's best friend, Maggie Amritraj, lost her husband, and Scott and I went for the service. We reminisced with Mrs. Amritraj, and saw her celebrity tennis player sons. It is therapeutic for me to be with people who used to know my mother.
After I left Kovalam, the students were oriented by other staff. They then went shopping and we met at Adaikalam the following morning. The students do full physical exams on all the patients here - 180 in number. As with last year's group, this group has picked up issues we need to investigate further.
Naren was in the annual Christmas panto as the dame, i.e., a female character. A talented Indian designer made the dress and it was beautiful. He rocked the role and we went to see the show multiple times, heckling from the audience and dancing with him when he came near us. (The students also joined us for 1 of the shows and appeared to have enjoyed it.) Naren passed on a request from one of the crew, for me not to yell as the crew member enjoyed Naren's lines and did not want to miss any of them. This was a big dilemma, as it is genetically impossible for me not to yell at the panto. I discussed it (yes, it was that big a dilemma) with the family, then the director and producer, and the latter 2 told me I could do what I wanted. So, the crew person had to go jump, and I heckled to my heart's content. We were invited to the cast party and a British guest there told me that was exactly the point of the panto. Hooray.
The nation (and likely world) mourned the passing of Ravi Shankar. We were fortunate to have seen him and his daughter, Anoushka Shankar Wright, in concert a few years ago. The ONLY thing that struck me when he died was what a louse he was in the parenting department, siring children when he was 59 and 61, and then not maintaining any kind of genial/parental relationship with one of them. Parenting is a privilege, isn't it.
We saw a couple of excellent Tamil movies and are getting ready for Xmas. We Skyped with Navin on Sunday and that was grand fun - he has an understated sense of humor and I laughed out loud on many occasions.
We are privileged in our family. Hope you have fine times with your own.
Unw-
R
posted by Renu Weiss at
7:08 PM
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