It was a bright and sunny morning. Going through the morning chores, I was aware of the importance that was being provided for my visit by Suresh and Reshmi, my cousin. I left home by a quarter past 9, collected change from the baker's nearby, caught an auto and headed straight for the private bus stand. A bus, marked for the Vyttila hub at Ernakulam, was parked and when I queried the driver standing nearby, he said that the bus was leaving straight away. Sure enough, it had taken off, soon after, with a handful of passengers - the bus wasn't crowded at all, throughout the journey.
I was at Vyttila by about a quarter past 12, got off at the junction itself, before the bus turned into the hub. So the only thing required of me was to cross the busy thoroughfare, catch an auto and head straight for my cousin's. Ramakrishnan was generally lazing around with the mandatory dark glasses on and my grand aunt was being readied for lunch. I touched her feet, as per usual practice but there was no flicker of recognition as she continued to keep her eyes closed!
Lunch was on offer though I hadn't pre-planned or warned them and the simple fair was superb! We'd a long chat and it was, then, that I realised that Ramakrishnan was doing all the talking while he was supposed to talk least as part of the recuperation process and sure, felt guilty on that aspect! By a quarter past 2, I was off to the hospital and had joined up with Suresh, Reshmi and Sabu. Enroute, I did observe that Suresh looked worried, perhaps, about his impending surgery and the aftermath. We'd prayed at the Idappalli church, upon his insistence and lit candles on our way.
The admission formalities were gone through as we shuttled between 'windows' to collect requisite papers and the necessary bank endorsement of having received the money towards expenses connected with the surgery. It was then that we headed for meeting up with the doctor. A thorough gentleman, with humility, despite his fame and professional excellence - that's the way I'd sum up Dr. Subramonia Iyer. Savio, our mutual friend, had already told him about my visit. Subbu - I'd taken his permission to call him thus - had gone through the case, in detail and said that Suresh's surgery was to be the second, in the sequence, tomorrow morning. The duration was gonna be about eight hours and he was to remain in the ICU for five days towards post operative care!
After the details about the surgery, we'd come down to discussing personal stuff and ended up exchanging our telephone numbers. As we got out of the doctor's room I noticed that Suresh and the others were at ease because they'd begun to warm up to Subbu's friendliness. My parting shot to the doctor was, "Subbu, I'm leaving my brother-in-law in your safe hands. Wish you the best! Will talk to you after the surgery tomorrow".
We, then, went into the room assigned to Suresh and soon after, I'd taken leave of them. He gave me a tight hug, thanking me profusely and I'd to chide him saying that such things were done voluntarily, for friends and relations. It's part of one's karma.....
It was much past sunset that I'd got a return bus to Guruvayur, choc-a-bloc with passengers and could reach home only by about a half past 8. Since I couldn't visit Radhan chettan, I'd spoken to his wife who gave me the following inputs:-
(a) he has had another bout of breathlessness which took a long time to be set right.
(b) the wound that he has on his left foot is suspected to be getting gangrenous - a biopsy is on.
(c) the hospital permitting, his sons were seriously thinking of shifting him to the Medical
College at Kottayam so that one of them could be in attendance, round-the-clock.
Tailpiece.
It's a fruitful day! And I've got myself another friend!!
I was at Vyttila by about a quarter past 12, got off at the junction itself, before the bus turned into the hub. So the only thing required of me was to cross the busy thoroughfare, catch an auto and head straight for my cousin's. Ramakrishnan was generally lazing around with the mandatory dark glasses on and my grand aunt was being readied for lunch. I touched her feet, as per usual practice but there was no flicker of recognition as she continued to keep her eyes closed!
Lunch was on offer though I hadn't pre-planned or warned them and the simple fair was superb! We'd a long chat and it was, then, that I realised that Ramakrishnan was doing all the talking while he was supposed to talk least as part of the recuperation process and sure, felt guilty on that aspect! By a quarter past 2, I was off to the hospital and had joined up with Suresh, Reshmi and Sabu. Enroute, I did observe that Suresh looked worried, perhaps, about his impending surgery and the aftermath. We'd prayed at the Idappalli church, upon his insistence and lit candles on our way.
The admission formalities were gone through as we shuttled between 'windows' to collect requisite papers and the necessary bank endorsement of having received the money towards expenses connected with the surgery. It was then that we headed for meeting up with the doctor. A thorough gentleman, with humility, despite his fame and professional excellence - that's the way I'd sum up Dr. Subramonia Iyer. Savio, our mutual friend, had already told him about my visit. Subbu - I'd taken his permission to call him thus - had gone through the case, in detail and said that Suresh's surgery was to be the second, in the sequence, tomorrow morning. The duration was gonna be about eight hours and he was to remain in the ICU for five days towards post operative care!
After the details about the surgery, we'd come down to discussing personal stuff and ended up exchanging our telephone numbers. As we got out of the doctor's room I noticed that Suresh and the others were at ease because they'd begun to warm up to Subbu's friendliness. My parting shot to the doctor was, "Subbu, I'm leaving my brother-in-law in your safe hands. Wish you the best! Will talk to you after the surgery tomorrow".
We, then, went into the room assigned to Suresh and soon after, I'd taken leave of them. He gave me a tight hug, thanking me profusely and I'd to chide him saying that such things were done voluntarily, for friends and relations. It's part of one's karma.....
It was much past sunset that I'd got a return bus to Guruvayur, choc-a-bloc with passengers and could reach home only by about a half past 8. Since I couldn't visit Radhan chettan, I'd spoken to his wife who gave me the following inputs:-
(a) he has had another bout of breathlessness which took a long time to be set right.
(b) the wound that he has on his left foot is suspected to be getting gangrenous - a biopsy is on.
(c) the hospital permitting, his sons were seriously thinking of shifting him to the Medical
College at Kottayam so that one of them could be in attendance, round-the-clock.
Tailpiece.
It's a fruitful day! And I've got myself another friend!!
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