"Hey boss, I've a very severe ear ache. Is it possible to get urgent medical help?" That was Pradeep 'Rana' Roy, who'd woken me up at a half past 1 in the middle of the night.
Earlier, we'd wound up our conversation by about a half past 11, long after dinner. Rana and 'Lokhi' Anusuya were leaving at a half past 2 for Kochi, for their early morning flight to New Delhi. They'd finished with the week's ayurvedic treatment at the nearby spa, earlier in the evening and I'd brought them home for a quiet evening. My favoured 'sarthi', George, had been fixed up for ferrying them to the airport.
As the pain was persistent, Rana had decided that he'd send Lokhi by the flight while he followed her by train, later in the day, but Lokhi would hear nothing of it, insisting that she would also go by train along with him! He feared that the ear problem would only get aggravated and therefore, had ruled out flying!
George was summoned and after locking Lekha - she was fast asleep, quite oblivious of what was going on - in the house, we set off for the nearest hospital. Dr. John, at the Casualty and the doctor on duty, attended to Rana's discomfort. He diagnosed it as an external ear infection with oedema and wrote down the course of action on the medical prescription - of administering 'Ketnov' an antibiotic and a pain killer on the buttock after a test dose - that was prepared, as per procedure. Lokhi, however, wanted to confirm from her doctor uncle(Kaku) whether the contemplated action was right and had got a nod from the other side but not before a query as to why 'Voveran' was not being used. Original Bengali reaction, if you please!! (John with his shapeless jeans, unkempt hair and halting English did not pass muster for a doctor!)
Dr. John, however, was of sterner stuff and he brushed aside the suggestion without getting offended. Looking back in hindsight, he could have got nasty and turned us out of the Casualty for not having faith in him! But, he was a nice guy!! He'd also made it clear that there wasn't gonna be a problem in flying because the problem was within the external ear!!!
After the administration of the injection(On the buttock? I asked Naveen, who'd administered the injection and who said that the reason was because of the abundant number of muscles out there!) followed by the administration of an ear drop, Rana felt the pain reducing and by the time we'd reached back at 'The Quarterdeck', he'd got the message that their flight was delayed to a half past 7 due to the late arrival of the incoming flight! George was told about it and accordingly, they left for the airport by 5. Rana's ear ache was a thing of the past, by then and he'd caught up with his sleep, too. Phew!....... They'd called up from New Delhi, on arrival, and were effusive in their gratitude for being with them to tide over the emergency.
Then, Aniyan, my younger uncle had called up to find out as to whether he and his family could drop by this evening as he wanted to celebrate his birthday at Guruvayur. While clearing him, I'd purposely hidden the fact that both Lekha and I were down with a bad cough because of three things viz.
(a) It would appear that we're putting up an excuse for not letting them to come by.
(b) They're on their way to Kozhikode to drop their daughter and grand daughter and our place,
at Guruvayur, provided them with an appropriate halt.
(c) And one can't say 'no' to a birthday boy, can one?
They'd, finally, fetched up at 10 in the evening by a state road transport corporation bus! For us, it was raining guests, back to back and I'm of the firm opinion that people look forward to drop by only when they know that they are comfortable!
The late evening was noisy with Aniyan, Usha ammayi, Malu and li'l Prarthana. It was definitely a change for us! The li'l one was friendly and talkative!!
Tailpiece.
Earlier, Raji, the wife of my classmate from school, Yedu Kumar, had dropped by around a half past 2 to spend time with us. She'd come all along from Kozhikode to attend a wedding and had dropped by on her return trip. Damn sweet of her!
Earlier, we'd wound up our conversation by about a half past 11, long after dinner. Rana and 'Lokhi' Anusuya were leaving at a half past 2 for Kochi, for their early morning flight to New Delhi. They'd finished with the week's ayurvedic treatment at the nearby spa, earlier in the evening and I'd brought them home for a quiet evening. My favoured 'sarthi', George, had been fixed up for ferrying them to the airport.
As the pain was persistent, Rana had decided that he'd send Lokhi by the flight while he followed her by train, later in the day, but Lokhi would hear nothing of it, insisting that she would also go by train along with him! He feared that the ear problem would only get aggravated and therefore, had ruled out flying!
George was summoned and after locking Lekha - she was fast asleep, quite oblivious of what was going on - in the house, we set off for the nearest hospital. Dr. John, at the Casualty and the doctor on duty, attended to Rana's discomfort. He diagnosed it as an external ear infection with oedema and wrote down the course of action on the medical prescription - of administering 'Ketnov' an antibiotic and a pain killer on the buttock after a test dose - that was prepared, as per procedure. Lokhi, however, wanted to confirm from her doctor uncle(Kaku) whether the contemplated action was right and had got a nod from the other side but not before a query as to why 'Voveran' was not being used. Original Bengali reaction, if you please!! (John with his shapeless jeans, unkempt hair and halting English did not pass muster for a doctor!)
Dr. John, however, was of sterner stuff and he brushed aside the suggestion without getting offended. Looking back in hindsight, he could have got nasty and turned us out of the Casualty for not having faith in him! But, he was a nice guy!! He'd also made it clear that there wasn't gonna be a problem in flying because the problem was within the external ear!!!
After the administration of the injection(On the buttock? I asked Naveen, who'd administered the injection and who said that the reason was because of the abundant number of muscles out there!) followed by the administration of an ear drop, Rana felt the pain reducing and by the time we'd reached back at 'The Quarterdeck', he'd got the message that their flight was delayed to a half past 7 due to the late arrival of the incoming flight! George was told about it and accordingly, they left for the airport by 5. Rana's ear ache was a thing of the past, by then and he'd caught up with his sleep, too. Phew!....... They'd called up from New Delhi, on arrival, and were effusive in their gratitude for being with them to tide over the emergency.
Then, Aniyan, my younger uncle had called up to find out as to whether he and his family could drop by this evening as he wanted to celebrate his birthday at Guruvayur. While clearing him, I'd purposely hidden the fact that both Lekha and I were down with a bad cough because of three things viz.
(a) It would appear that we're putting up an excuse for not letting them to come by.
(b) They're on their way to Kozhikode to drop their daughter and grand daughter and our place,
at Guruvayur, provided them with an appropriate halt.
(c) And one can't say 'no' to a birthday boy, can one?
They'd, finally, fetched up at 10 in the evening by a state road transport corporation bus! For us, it was raining guests, back to back and I'm of the firm opinion that people look forward to drop by only when they know that they are comfortable!
The late evening was noisy with Aniyan, Usha ammayi, Malu and li'l Prarthana. It was definitely a change for us! The li'l one was friendly and talkative!!
Tailpiece.
Earlier, Raji, the wife of my classmate from school, Yedu Kumar, had dropped by around a half past 2 to spend time with us. She'd come all along from Kozhikode to attend a wedding and had dropped by on her return trip. Damn sweet of her!
No comments:
Post a Comment