This is the sequel to Bapa's cataract operation. I reached Delhi on Monday night - was a little pissed off with Putun. But found Putun quite sorry and that kindda brought me back to the kid-brother role that I and Nilu continue to essay. Shveta had visited the fairground earlier that day and was not very happy with the way things were managed by the MP Pavilion staff. The most interesting part of the trip was my alighting out of Shatabdi train at 10PM, carrying a suitcase and a very heavy duffelbag. I managed to drag myself up the overbridge to the Paharganj side of New Delhi station and with a couple of breaks and huffs and puffs reached the far end of the bridge when I was accosted by a couple of Taxi and AutoRickshaw drivers (not to mention the coolies who thought I was doing a grave sin carrying my own goods). While getting down the bridge and shooing away the drivers (not a good idea!) I fell down a couple of steps with the bags on top of me!...Couldn't help mutter a few of the choicest Hindi swear words at the Taxi driver who continued nonchalantly - "Sirji aap gaali de rahe hain?" ("Sirji, you're swearing at me?"). I was furious - about to blow my top - and then gave up and agreed to go with him for 80 bucks! (What a rip off!!).
Delhi looks pretty cool now - especially during cold, not-foggy November nights. Very soon, it would be cut off from the rest of the country and perhaps the world as it would be covered with thick smog through the rest of winter. But the best part is the cutting down of pollution - better traffic rules and hopefully better civic sense.
That bit of an episode at the New Delhi Railway station became a nice ice-breaker when I entered our home. The dogs Chaman and Godot had their coats trimmed and Putun continued playing them while talking (what is new? - Putun, hope you get to read this!) and laughing. Saw some TV (news mostly - Abu Salem, the dancing IG and his distraught wife, what else?)
Bapa came slightly later - he had collected his new specs (wth the right glass changed to a plain one) and I put the 5 eye-drops (still remember the names - Pedrone, Moxicip, Tobrine, Refresh Liquigel and Optilac) before going off to sleep. The two femme fatales of the house kept asking questions about our visit to Bhopal, etc. Don't remember much - guess was feeling groggy...
More later...watch this space!
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Monday, November 21, 2005
Bapa's Cataract Operation
The last week saw me and Shveta in Delhi. Bapa had his cataract operation on the 12th - at Dr Ajwani's Hospital on Berasia Road. Dr Ajay Goenka and Shukla Uncle were there, besides me and Shveta. Bapa kept talking about death - how uncertain life is, etc (I really thank God Ma was not around), his classic quote of the day was "Just when I was wishing to see less and less, I would be made to see things more 'clearly', with a new lens!". Bah! Bapa is just 56. A lot of people start a new innings in their lives at that age. Col Nambiar started off the Leela Hotel chain at that age, my father-in-law came down to Bhopal at that age, etc. Anyways, we travelled by Indica that morning and reached the Indore Travels office on Hamidia Road. Bapa came in about 10-15 mins there, picking us up as we all went to Berasia Road. When we reached Berasia Road, we found Dr Goenka and Shukla Uncle there (the room was no. 6)...there, as we talked Bapa started off with how delicate our body organs are - and were joined by Shukla uncle and Dr Goenka who went into the technical details (Aquasumer, cornea, etc were the most important keywords here)...then the talk about death (that I mentioned earlier in this blog). Dr Ajwani also joined the team, with his wife (a jovial, plump sindhi lady who works as his assistant)
The operation lasted about an hour - the real thing took only 20 mins while the rest was preparation - cleaning up and readying the instruments and giving the anaesthesia. Bapa came out of the OT with a bandage on one eye - (I forgot to add one thing - during the operation, Ma and Putun called just to say how pissed off they were for having been informed just a day before that Bapa would be going for his operation to Bhopal. We also came down on Bapa - telling him never to do such a thing since a surgical operation is a surgical operation). Dr Shukla, I suppose is a chain smoker these days - during the operation, he went out twice to smoke. During the operation, I generally inquired about Meetu and Vaibhav - Meetu is working with Airtel these days, stationed at Indore. Dr Shukla said he is contemplating about moving to Indore, as a director/faculty of Aurobindo Medical Institute there. The only thing that is stopping him is his aversion to relocation. But then, his son is there and he doesn't have much to do at Bhopal in any case.
We then moved back to the IAS Officer's guest house at Char Imli where Bapa was to take rest. He kept telling everyone, with his typical child like enthusiasm and innocence, that he looks like Gen Moshe Dayan of Israeli army:). However, the sedatives did the trick and he dosed off. Shveta went to her parents place while I stayed on. In the evening, Prof Biswas, Madhuree nani and Bonnie came with some food for them. Shveta also joined with her parents. In the evening, we had also gone to Dr Ajwani's place - what a palatial place they've got at Arera Colony. A great Labrador and 2 hijas the size of trunk a piece!! By 8-8.30, I dropped Shveta at the Bhopal station as she had to go to Delhi and then we moved, at Qayyum miyan's request, to Noor-Us-Sabah. What had to ensue thereafter, was obvious. Bapa had his santula and bland dishes prepared by the Biswases while I hogged on mughlai cuisines, all through till Monday.
Sunday morning saw both of us go to Dr Ajwani's place for cleaning up the bandage etc. He was already under medication the night before and the morning had him take a painkiller (which he had with a bowlful of corn-flakes). All through the journey, he was feeling quite restless and thirsty. The moment the bandage was removed, he was sweating profusely and shaking. We immediately had a BP taken and the BP was an astonishing 150/105!! Oh I forgot to add- we had the usual lackeys Neeraj Pandey, Saraswat and Verma babu waiting for us at Ajwanis' place. Dr Ajwani himself was off to Katni that day. All the more reason for all of us to be terrified. Bapa was made to lie down there and we all (Ms Ajwani, Neeraj, Saraswat and Verma) rushed to Mukesh Bhargav's place which is a stone's throw away. Mukesh Bhargav came and checked to find the BP come down to 138/84 and maintained that this was because of vasovegic (or some similar sounding word) shock, which is a routine thing. We then went to MB's clinic to get an ECG and it came normal. We then went to Mr Sancheti's place, and then to Surana's place (trust Bapa to do that - in 99.99% cases, the patient would take rest after an operation - not Bapa). I left Bapa at Surana's place and came back to the hotel where I had some good food. The evening saw Shveta's parents and Prof Biswas and co. come again. That day, after Bapa's returning from Surana's, we removed the bandage and put the 5 eye-drops, as per the medical prescription. Bapa has been since wearing Neeraj Pandey's hand-me-down shades.
Monday morning saw us at Dr Ajwanis' place for breakfast.From there he went to Dr Goenka's place, from where he went to OP Rawat's place for lunch!!! Thank God Ma was not around - he could manage to roam around so freely only because I was around and I cannot boss over him! I went back to the hotel where I was to have my lunch and then leave by Shatabdi for Delhi. Bapa must have met all his lackeys that day since he left by 7PM....But hats off to Bonnie - she came to Noor Us Sabah on Monday after I left to take care of Bapa.
The operation lasted about an hour - the real thing took only 20 mins while the rest was preparation - cleaning up and readying the instruments and giving the anaesthesia. Bapa came out of the OT with a bandage on one eye - (I forgot to add one thing - during the operation, Ma and Putun called just to say how pissed off they were for having been informed just a day before that Bapa would be going for his operation to Bhopal. We also came down on Bapa - telling him never to do such a thing since a surgical operation is a surgical operation). Dr Shukla, I suppose is a chain smoker these days - during the operation, he went out twice to smoke. During the operation, I generally inquired about Meetu and Vaibhav - Meetu is working with Airtel these days, stationed at Indore. Dr Shukla said he is contemplating about moving to Indore, as a director/faculty of Aurobindo Medical Institute there. The only thing that is stopping him is his aversion to relocation. But then, his son is there and he doesn't have much to do at Bhopal in any case.
We then moved back to the IAS Officer's guest house at Char Imli where Bapa was to take rest. He kept telling everyone, with his typical child like enthusiasm and innocence, that he looks like Gen Moshe Dayan of Israeli army:). However, the sedatives did the trick and he dosed off. Shveta went to her parents place while I stayed on. In the evening, Prof Biswas, Madhuree nani and Bonnie came with some food for them. Shveta also joined with her parents. In the evening, we had also gone to Dr Ajwani's place - what a palatial place they've got at Arera Colony. A great Labrador and 2 hijas the size of trunk a piece!! By 8-8.30, I dropped Shveta at the Bhopal station as she had to go to Delhi and then we moved, at Qayyum miyan's request, to Noor-Us-Sabah. What had to ensue thereafter, was obvious. Bapa had his santula and bland dishes prepared by the Biswases while I hogged on mughlai cuisines, all through till Monday.
Sunday morning saw both of us go to Dr Ajwani's place for cleaning up the bandage etc. He was already under medication the night before and the morning had him take a painkiller (which he had with a bowlful of corn-flakes). All through the journey, he was feeling quite restless and thirsty. The moment the bandage was removed, he was sweating profusely and shaking. We immediately had a BP taken and the BP was an astonishing 150/105!! Oh I forgot to add- we had the usual lackeys Neeraj Pandey, Saraswat and Verma babu waiting for us at Ajwanis' place. Dr Ajwani himself was off to Katni that day. All the more reason for all of us to be terrified. Bapa was made to lie down there and we all (Ms Ajwani, Neeraj, Saraswat and Verma) rushed to Mukesh Bhargav's place which is a stone's throw away. Mukesh Bhargav came and checked to find the BP come down to 138/84 and maintained that this was because of vasovegic (or some similar sounding word) shock, which is a routine thing. We then went to MB's clinic to get an ECG and it came normal. We then went to Mr Sancheti's place, and then to Surana's place (trust Bapa to do that - in 99.99% cases, the patient would take rest after an operation - not Bapa). I left Bapa at Surana's place and came back to the hotel where I had some good food. The evening saw Shveta's parents and Prof Biswas and co. come again. That day, after Bapa's returning from Surana's, we removed the bandage and put the 5 eye-drops, as per the medical prescription. Bapa has been since wearing Neeraj Pandey's hand-me-down shades.
Monday morning saw us at Dr Ajwanis' place for breakfast.From there he went to Dr Goenka's place, from where he went to OP Rawat's place for lunch!!! Thank God Ma was not around - he could manage to roam around so freely only because I was around and I cannot boss over him! I went back to the hotel where I was to have my lunch and then leave by Shatabdi for Delhi. Bapa must have met all his lackeys that day since he left by 7PM....But hats off to Bonnie - she came to Noor Us Sabah on Monday after I left to take care of Bapa.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Diwali @ Ajay Bhai's place
Well, well...our first Diwali celebrations at Indore did not turn out to be what it should have been - Shveta down with cold fever (and with me catching up with her on that front)..the morning of 1st saw both of us waking up with headaches. After downing a few tablets of Citzen and Nimulid, both of us got into decorating the house. Shveta beautifully adorned the floor with tiny foot-step designs symbolizing the walking in of Goddess Lakshmi into the house...then we filled in the tiny Diyas and other earthen lamps with oil and wicks and lit them, placing them at our door-steps and puja-room. Shveta then did pooja and I joined her - we used a large Cadbury chocolate bar as the "prashad"!!!!..:)
After the pooja, we lazed around for some more time - I was at the computer listening to some music - the blasted thing keeps hanging every 10 minutes and makes me resolve all the more to get a new machine.
By evening 7-ish, we went to Ajay Bhai's place - attended their pooja, ate some gujiyas, halwa, ladoos and anaarsaas. All the menfolk, except Ajay Bhai's father, were in Kurta-salwars while the ladies were decked up in her best saris and jewellery (for some mysterious inexplicable reason, I did not take any picture!!!....:-((...why am I such a duh!!??!!)...we then had a meal of puri-aloo and jimmykand and then left for the bank to get some moolah and some pans etc. After buying the pans, we took a detour and went to our old pad - Royal Palace - and met the Saihgals, and the Khatwanis. The lady-surd had her sister visiting her from Delhi and both had an uncannily similar voice (I really pity the rest of the bunch there)....they were all missing Shveta this Diwali, apparently..wish they showed all that love a tad more when we stayed in that condo.
We then returned back to Ajay Bhai's place for the crackers party and boy o boy, what an evening it was - must have continued way beyond 11.30PM when we bid them goodbye - some Rs 100000 must have been put into bangs, sparks and smoke last night - a huge duffel bag was fished out, jam-packed with all kinds of crackers - sparklers, rockets, whistles, all kinds of bombs. And Mr Qazi, the "bomber man" was blowing them as if he were a veteran - tying up those big bombs into big bundles and putting them under tin cans or pots and lighting them - rocking the entire block! Then you had those 5000 stick chain bombs that would be more of nuisance to all the residents of the block - incessantly rocking the place with chitty-chitty - bang-bang sounds...siren-bombs that would make whistling sounds and shoot away everywhere in all directions....there was hardly anything for the kids - all of them were holding those harmless sparklers....
The guests of honor were the Bhatnagars with the daughter Nikita, the Mishras (the neighbors) with some of their guests, and the surprise man was Ajay Bagadiya...
Soon after all that, we left for home. I got back to work and Shveta went to sleep....the girl would be off to Delhi from 3rd through 6th. Already missing her...
Enough for the day...back to my reports....god!!..
After the pooja, we lazed around for some more time - I was at the computer listening to some music - the blasted thing keeps hanging every 10 minutes and makes me resolve all the more to get a new machine.
By evening 7-ish, we went to Ajay Bhai's place - attended their pooja, ate some gujiyas, halwa, ladoos and anaarsaas. All the menfolk, except Ajay Bhai's father, were in Kurta-salwars while the ladies were decked up in her best saris and jewellery (for some mysterious inexplicable reason, I did not take any picture!!!....:-((...why am I such a duh!!??!!)...we then had a meal of puri-aloo and jimmykand and then left for the bank to get some moolah and some pans etc. After buying the pans, we took a detour and went to our old pad - Royal Palace - and met the Saihgals, and the Khatwanis. The lady-surd had her sister visiting her from Delhi and both had an uncannily similar voice (I really pity the rest of the bunch there)....they were all missing Shveta this Diwali, apparently..wish they showed all that love a tad more when we stayed in that condo.
We then returned back to Ajay Bhai's place for the crackers party and boy o boy, what an evening it was - must have continued way beyond 11.30PM when we bid them goodbye - some Rs 100000 must have been put into bangs, sparks and smoke last night - a huge duffel bag was fished out, jam-packed with all kinds of crackers - sparklers, rockets, whistles, all kinds of bombs. And Mr Qazi, the "bomber man" was blowing them as if he were a veteran - tying up those big bombs into big bundles and putting them under tin cans or pots and lighting them - rocking the entire block! Then you had those 5000 stick chain bombs that would be more of nuisance to all the residents of the block - incessantly rocking the place with chitty-chitty - bang-bang sounds...siren-bombs that would make whistling sounds and shoot away everywhere in all directions....there was hardly anything for the kids - all of them were holding those harmless sparklers....
The guests of honor were the Bhatnagars with the daughter Nikita, the Mishras (the neighbors) with some of their guests, and the surprise man was Ajay Bagadiya...
Soon after all that, we left for home. I got back to work and Shveta went to sleep....the girl would be off to Delhi from 3rd through 6th. Already missing her...
Enough for the day...back to my reports....god!!..
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