Report of 27 Feb 2018

Hello from our balcony!

The sea is blue, as is the sky.  Soccer lessons are going on downstairs.  The sky is spotted with small white clouds - numerous; there is a saying in India that such clouds form when a tigress has given birth.  Happy thought.

A couple of weeks since I blogged.  Last week was Family Day at Kovalam.  Some kind souls donate money and food for the occasion.  Families of staff (often as impoverished as the patients) are invited, we have biryani and chicken and fruit and chocolate (which replaced ice cream this year, perhaps some year we can have both), there are carnival rides and games, and all of us dance.  It is an extremely fun day.  This past weekend was Family Day at Adaikalam.  And it was the similar fun-fest.  Scott annually joins me on stage to perform; I think something might be on YouTube or Instagram. 

I rather love dancing - "Don't give me people who want to dance, give me people who have to dance" is a quote I saw once - so to dance is not a chore.  When we worked in Jasper, Indiana, in 2015, we were at the very fun Strassenfest and a young man with Down Syndrome was dancing; neither of the 2 Weiss men I was with wanted to dance, so I danced with the aforementioned young man.  What a blast - rock music and dancing, with a partner who was already dancing.  After it ended, the young man's mother came and thanked me for dancing with him; pleasantries were exchanged and after that, as I expressed bemusement at the gratitude, Navin said, "Yes, as though dancing was a big sacrifice for you."  [It was not and was unbridled fun; I did appreciate the mother's kind thoughts.]  Every single cell in my body starts to rock when music comes on and the urge to dance is visceral; I asked Scott once if it were not that way for him and he laughed out loud.

The Banyan is great and Vandana heads stateside soon to receive a prestigious award.  It is nice to work for visionary, ethical, morally upstanding human beings.

Private practice is also fine.  It is nice that both private practice hospitals are closeby.

We were in Madurai last week to observe the 8th anniversary of my mother's demise.  By Coorgi custom, a lamp is lit and that is all.  We cooked some favorite foods, however.  There is a large picture of my pretty mother in our dining room in Madurai and we placed flowers on it, missing her presence at the meal.  It is now, more than before, that I realise how important all of us were to her - more than patients, more than students, more than much in her life. 

We saw "Phantom Thread," admiring the holding-their-own of Vicky Krieps and Leslie Manville.  We also saw "Black Panther," and had to echo our actor son's support of movies with cast and crew of color.  The acting was first-rate, so we enjoyed all of it. 

We hope that the students protesting gun violence in the U.S. are able to achieve what so many others could not - some peace and quiet in the community.

Unw -

R  

Report of 11 Feb 2018

Good evening!

Though darkening, the sky is till blue, as is the sea.  Lights are starting to come on outside buildings and on streets, and it is a pretty time.

It is nice to write.  We were on errands last Sunday, catching a movie ("Phantom Thread") and then going to see a very sick patient in the hospital.  Thus, late getting home and then writing had to be sacrificed to getting ready for a busy Monday.  The patient is better, thank goodness.  I received an excellent update from the ICU resident, and he tolerated all my questions.  Not everybody would.

The Banyan is nice.  Vandana, one of the two founders, received a prestigious award and will head stateside next month.  We are extremely happy at the recognition!  All of us are somewhat hopeful that the exposure will help us toward our corpus goal of Rs. 40 crores, or approximately $7 million.  The lack of money has never stopped the work here, so we will plonk on. 

I was driving to my private practice the other day, when I spotted something on the roadside and was unsure what it was until I drove closer.  It was a woman, stark naked, and lying on the roadside.  I pulled over and phoned our Kovalam branch; I thought later of my option to cover the lady with my dupatta - a diaphanous shawl won over tunic and long pants.  These brilliant ideas only occur later.  Fortunately, the team did get there quickly and took the lady to Kovalam.  I will see her tomorrow.  It is mighty nice to work for an organisation that can help with such patients.

Private practice is fine.  Not many patients and I am grateful, really, as it means good health might be reigning.

I will talk to my father later this evening.  We spoke to the boys earlier today and that was grand fun - so much candor, laughter and love.  For this, as always, I will be grateful.

May you have many reasons to be grateful yourselves.

Unw -

R