Renu's Week

Sunday, March 11, 2018

Report of 11 March 2018

Good evening from our balcony!

The sea is blue, not crystal clear due to a haze, pretty nonetheless.  The cricket game downstairs is punctuated by conversation, and there are people splooshing about in the pool in our clubhouse next door.  This is nice - to write, and write.  Scott is sitting here reading the paper, having had his evening tea.  I consider that to be a useless meal, preferring to eat dinner at 4.30 or 5 PM, and we have done a preference switch: Indians drink tea and have a snack at 4 or 5 PM, and Americans eat dinner at that time.

I have a virus which set in about 2 days ago.  I was completely wiped out yesterday, but hauled myself to work and saw a couple of patients.  We then went on to a carnival featuring women entrepreneurs.  It was nice; we ate, mostly.  Scott had cheesecake and some baked goodies, I had some savory things and sugarcane juice, a huge favorite.  I felt my throat get better with the beverage and we then went on to our friend D. Ramesh's clinic for an ophthal evaluation. 

It is educational for doctors to fall sick: it is good to know what patients speak of.  I stayed on the sofa today and have gargled with salt water about 5 times, drunk vats of fluid and eaten fruit.  At the end of my reading the newspaper - about a 4-hour exercise - I feel better and am up.  My throat feels better with all that salt; it burned yesterday.

We spent last weekend at my sister Anu's place.  We ate - joined by our med student niece, Sanjana - talked, laughed, walked.  I have a new favorite drink - gin and tonic.  What a nice, mellow beverage.  Scott says it helps when the gin is top class and this was Bombay Sapphire.  I was forgetting words by the end of 2 small drinks, so decided to stop the enjoyment.  Anu was chairing a meeting the next morning and we stopped in to say bye.  It unfailingly gives me a kick in the pants to see a family member occupy a position of power at a meeting or talk or conference :).  Anu was leaving the next day for a Gates Foundation project meeting with the National Institutes of Health in the U.S., and I was pleased that we managed to see her before she left; gracious of her to accommodate us in spite of trans-continental travel.

The Banyan is wonderful.  Women's Day was celebrated with much fanfare and the whole place was festive and joyful and peppy.  A little event was organised on the premises, featuring the superintendent of the local prison - a lady - speaking.  She was great, all enjoyed the talk, and then prizes were given away to deserving residents.  Some residents spoke: it was eye-opening for me that the Banyan gave them hope when they perceived none, that the B has given them self-confidence and dignity and earning potential.  And treated their mental illness.  I knew all this, sort of; it was much more powerful to hear the story from the horse's mouth.  What a great place to work, how privileged I am to be part of an organisation whose very ethos involves imparting hope and joy and succor. 

Private practice is also nice.  We treat a variety of illnesses.  There has been a fair number of people attempting to harm themselves, and the Banyan's array of counselling services is an invaluable resource for such patients.

We were on "Hangout" with both boys today and that was the fun-fest it usually is.  Lots of candor, talk, laughter, love.  We are privileged to have these 2 young men in our lives.

May you have much love and laughter in your own lives.

Unw -

R  

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