Vanakkam Doctor !

Naive ignorance with Subtle variations Indelible screen saver in my perennial mind screen Alas, Cushion for the troubled mind. She is always there And utterly reliable, Friendlier than most of my friends Culinary expert with a razor sharp brain Practicalities and hospitalities Run very parallel in her hand. Having gone through a lot She managed to gather us as a lot I am forever amazed by   Ever growing mental strength Never waning even whilst losing her physical strength. Period of difficulties Interspersed with patches of life’s oddities Duly enhanced by lack of its basic commodities. She can be complex And be very simple Like all of us, Donning the perspective coat, And spinning the life’s odd ball When going gets tough , her Tough gets going. We are in her mind In her thought process In her breath...

Amma was in Hospital recently. What started like a simple cold and flu, turned out to be a full blown lobar pneumonia, last Sunday! She was in a septic shock at the time of admission, was adequately diagnosed, fluid resuscitated and stabilised in our local A&E, before moved to the medical wards. Her initial stay in Acute Medical unit was uneventful, however was out lied to an Orthopaedic trauma ward the next morning, which then became very eventful. We had to be with her most of the time because of communication issues, not only from her, but between the ward and medics. Obviously, she was an outlier, that too in a trauma ward, which delayed the medical input and all other necessary care every day. However, by God’s grace, she picked up really well with the intravenous antibiotics and soon was stable enough to be discharged the following Thursday. Five anxious days in hospital! Lots of friends visited, enquired, helped, and supported her and us during this time and many thanks to a...

Deepavali!!! It is once again, that time of the year. First 10 years: Oil bath, food, crackers, fire works, kites, friends, and lots of fun Second ten years: Fire works, kites, entertainment, television, movies, food, friends, girl friends and lots of fun Third ten years: Just the odd sprinklers or rockets, friends, Old monk, beers, Whiskies, dance, looking at kites, bladdered and lots of fun Currently: Very few drinks, friends, food, dance, and kiddies having lots of fun!! My earliest memory of Deepavali goes back to, when I was possibly four or five. Appa came home that evening with a big bag full of fire works, most of which were diverted to my uncles in Kanchipuram. Well, we were very young to fire them! The next one was when Appa got himself incarcerated in Chennai central prison!T his was in 1976, following a union strike at his work place which was also the emergency period in India . We were actually...