Saturday, March 29, 2014

A day of many hues.

It's a long day that was a mixed bag of routine stuff coupled with the unsuspecting tugs and by the end of the day I felt that I'd been through a roller coaster of emotions.

It's the turn of Lekha's review by her doctor and we'd set off for the hospital, 25 km from our house, a trifle after 9 and since the traffic was smooth, we'd reached our destination within 45'. Our stay had taken over two hours, but the nursing staff went out of their way to look after us and even gave one of the rooms that had been vacated around that time to tide over the monotony of waiting on account of the doctor's morning schedule. And he's indicated that the healing process is on the lines that he'd expected it to be, outlining further steps towards attaining normalcy and has given 12 Apr as the date when he'd see her next.

It's late in the afternoon when I'd called up my cousin to inquire about her mom's progress at the ayurvedic clinic, when she broke the news of AP Chandrasekharan, an advocate in his early 80s, being buttoned on to a ventillator for life support after a massive cardiac arrest and brain hemorrhage. His liver had just given way and the doctor had said that there was nothing more that could be done but wait for the inevitable end. I couldn't believe that the affable and likeable 'Chandrettan' was vegetating in an ICU. The last time we'd met was at a wedding reception at Kochi when he'd expressed a desire to spend an evening with me as he always felt invigorated(?) after an interaction. This was in November last and the last piece of conversation that I'd with him was during last month, when he'd chosen a 'grandfather clock' for us with a promise that he'd visit 'The Quarterdeck' pretty soon. I never realised then that he'd made a promise that he'd never keep!

By a quarter to 7, I was told that it was all over. RIP, Chandretta. I shall always cherish my times with you and may chechi and Anand have the strength to tide over their loss. And my humble prayers.

At 2030h, it was time for the simulated 'black out' on account of the 'earth hour'. I felt a bit of satisfaction towards doing my bit towards the cause of saving energy! And it's during the black out that Sabu and li'l Madhav had dropped by, to spend the night with us, to visit the temple. And by the time they'd returned, we'd just about time to exchange notes because I'd wanted them to have a good night's sleep as they're driving off at the crack of the dawn.


Tailpiece.

It was also a day when my friend, at Delhi, had to be talked to who was celebrating his birthday after having done his last official tenure! And wasn't he thrilled?     

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