Report of 17 July 2021

 Good evening!

The monsoon is here.  This is the time the other founder of the Banyan, Vaishnavi, usually wanders around in a vehicle, rescuing marooned folks and ensuring that they have shelter for the foreseeable future.  She does all this quietly and unexcitedly; it is quite remarkable to work with her.  

We are well and hope the same with all of you.  I have started a healthy weight and fitness initiative and it is going well enough.  As a physician, I am unfailingly concerned when I see an overweight or obese person; not for the aesthetics, but for the sheer adverse impact that extra weight can have on the entire human body.  Not 1 organ system is spared by overweight; the body was not intended to be thusly impacted.  The service is slow to take off, but the patients that I do have are motivated and are getting excellent results.  

I had to make a short trip to Bangalore.  A cousin younger than I, was going for bypass surgery and I went; I wanted to show moral support to my cousin and wished to speak to the surgeon to see what she/he found.  It was a good trip; my cousin was happy and the surgery went well, thank goodness.  I returned to Chennai a few hours after the surgery.  It is splendid to live in a city with an airport and good to travel to a city with an airport.  

We went to Vellore last Sunday.  My sister-in-law, Susan, was there to visit my niece, Sanjana, who has recently finished med school in the very prestigious Christian Medical College.  Susan asked if the Chennai-ites could come down for a visit, and we went.  With the recent lifting of the lockdown, travel has resumed and there was heavy traffic on the highway, with regretfully very rash driving.  Our vandi (vehicle) was sideswiped by another car and I was dismayed.  It was not a massive hit, and more cosmetic; we managed to get to Vellore.  We had a good visit with Susan and Sanjana, and an outdoor lunch, as Scott was not allowed into the women's hostel.  We returned to Chennai the same day, with similar rash driving encountered on the return, and were very happy to get home.  

Vellore is known for good quality and inexpensive fruit and we returned with 3 bags of fruit.  My motor does not run if there is no fruit in the house and I was happy to buy fruit.  

We spoke to our children on my return from Bangalore and that was wonderful.  With the time difference (we are 9-1/2 hours ahead of them), it is not always feasible to chat, but we manage.  

I updated my aunts and other relatives on our cousin in Bangalore.  As I age, I find it important to be in touch with relatives and am unfailingly grateful to be on good terms.  

The pandemic continues to rage here, with daily cases and deaths.  The variants appear to affect even the vaccinated.  

Stay safe and well.

Unw -

R