Report of 23 Feb 2020

Good evening -

The day is winding down.  We have travelled.  We went to Madurai 2 days ago to observe the 10th anniversary of my mother's demise.  There is a huge photo of her hanging in the dining room: her image was isolated from a picture of both my parents that was taken in Houston.  They had come for Naren's delivery and I hastened to get a studio pic of them.  She was young and pretty in the pic, and mentioned that the photographer had been very good in getting both of them to smile, thus the pic is lovely - the sari is well-draped, as usual, and my mother's smile is natural and genuine. 

We left on Friday, Scott drove as I was unwell, and we reached Madurai by lunch-time.  We had a delicious lunch - as usual - and rested.  In the evening, we bought some groceries for the house and hung out with my father.  The next morning - the 22nd - was the anniversary, and the young lady who works in the house + her husband had already bought a long string of fragrant jasmine.  That was hung on the photo, my Dad read from the Bible and the Daily Bread, and we scrambled to find a Hindu shloka to complete the puja by the auspicious time (7.30 - 8.30 AM).  We did manage, and then a plate of my mother's favorite food was left by her photo.  More was to come at lunch-time, after the young lady made the rest of the food.

10 years.  Scott said, "Just because she is not here does not mean she does not know what is going on." 

We headed to Pondicherry from Madurai and attended a photo exhibition of works done by my friend, Clare.  It was on disappearing urban professions and a story of water, and was well-done.  Clare also gave a talk on said professions, which was authoritative.  We then went out for dinner with her and her group of friends and family, and it was nice.  This morning, we met my school junior, a genial young woman named Sundaravalli, and her husband, Carel, for breakfast.  It was nice to sit and talk and laugh, and then we headed back to Chennai.

I was unwell last week and stayed in bed much of the time.  I did manage to get to Kovalam and promptly reprimanded a patient who had brought her 12 year old daughter for company.  I cannot abide children being yanked out of school for responsibilities that are way beyond their age, especially if there are others who can fulfill said responsibilities; our community worker - whom I bellowed for - came to the examining room and told the patient she would not be seen if her daughter came with her again.  The patient was clearly told to bring her mother as an escort. 

We hung out with Navin and that was fun.  Naren was unavailable and we heard from him as he travelled to San Antonio. 

I am heading bed-ward.  Have a very good day and week!

Unw -

R

Report of 14 Feb 2020

Happy Valentine's Day, folks!

I got to lie on the sofa today, sometimes the body tells one to slow down a bit.  Somebody gave me a beaut of a virus and the swimming pool - which ordinarily calls me on Friday mornings - did not send out as loud a signal as my bed did.

We are otherwise well.  The Banyan continues wonderfully.  Responsibilities are changing for me, and that is okay.  We had Adaikalam's Family Day last Sunday and staff of families joined us for biryani, sugarcane juice, cake, popcorn and cotton candy.  It was nice.  One of the more enthusiastic young employees had organised a Flash Mob and it was fun. 

Private practice is also going well.  The hospital is a good place and the owners are fine people.  I see a fair amount of diversity of cases and enjoy them.  Interesting is the young, unmarried, sexually active Indian - not a thing when I was a teenager.  At least, not publicly.  Now I have to caution the patients to use protection, at which point they often give me a surprised look. 

My father was in town last week, electing to stay with his plastic surgery colleagues at a hotel close to the venue of a conference.  We live about 30 km outside town, so getting him to and from his conference would have been time consuming and he is not a fan.  We went and saw him on 1 of the conference days and took him out for tea: my sister gets concerned at his sitting for 12 hours in an airconditioned room, as he has COPD, and we hoped to minimise his exposure to non-stop cold air.  It was a nice evening, and he indulged us before quickly insisting on returning to the conference. 

We saw "Jojo Rabbit" and "Parasite."  I enjoyed the former immensely and have become a Taika Waititi fan.  The latter was well-made, but since poverty is all-pervasive here, it was not novel and enjoyable for me.  Scott said it was a very well-made film and lo and behold, it won "Best picture" and a host of other Academy awards.  I like the fact that Brad Pitt won: Naren and I have discussed how some actors' stunning good looks often detract from their talent.  Mr. Pitt's comedic timing - as evidenced in "Burn after reading" - is also good. 

We "hung out" with Naren and Navin yesterday and that was fun.  I always enjoy the boys' perspective on all manner of things, and we laughed a fair amount, too. 

Hope you have joy and laughter in your life!

Unw -

R