Had got up by about a half past 5 after Sajikuttan had gone through his chores. Babu Panicker's hotel was peaceful and it was a restful night. After breakfast, we'd left for Champakulam by about 9 AM. There was a lapse that had to be sorted out. One of the doctors, earmarked for the camp, Amrutha Krishnan was incommunicado since last evening. No amount of calls could retrieve the doctor and the District Medical Officer put in her efforts to get us a doctor, in lieu.
We reached the parish hall of the Basilica of St Mary, Champakulam an hour later - the venue of the camp - well in time, for the proceedings to begin. The meeting was conducted, followed by the medical inspection and there were two doctors. Phew! The number of patients was, however, not as good as we'd expected - it was about 104 but the heartening thing was that there were a lot children, who were in queue, for getting medical advice. The fundamental problem was the psychological trauma, post floods, which will have to be tackled with counseling sessions and we made a note of that requirement. There has been a spate of medical camps in the area!
Met two adorable kids, Marys (Class IV) and Thomas (Class II). The latter came and sat next to us for lunch and talked a lot. Marys was going through an emergency as she'd lost the keys of her new bicycle and her tears took a long time to control. The children could be given health enhancing tonics and vitamin tablets.
We wound up the camp by a half past 1, had a scrumptious lunch and split soon after. While maman and gang set off southward, 'Nattuvelicham' Prathapan - the Foundation's co-ordinator at Alappuzha - dropped me at the bus stand, from where I got a bus to Kochi via Thoppumpady; I was taking this route after a long, long time. From Kochi, I could clamber on to a low floor a/c bus to Kozhikode and reached Kunnankulam around a half past 7 - it took three and a half hours, thanks to the tight traffic. There was pitter patter rain while disembarking and I caught an auto rickshaw - driven by Sudhakaran - a widely read guy and quite knowledgeable about Muthachhan, who has promised to keep in touch.
A quick wash, followed by a sumptuous dinner of noodles and it was time to turn into bed. Felt very tired, wonder why? Lekha was explained the details of the trip and the important aspects of the two places.
A nice, short trip.
Tailpiece.
Ammachi had about 5 acres of land with a sprawling house at 'Chempothu' which was entrusted with an advocate by the name of Xavier, whom Muthachhan believed in, explicitly. But the sad fact was that he took advantage of the leniency and couldn't prevent the encroachment of the land by the other farmers, nearby. This was a sore point between Muthachhan and Ammachi, those days. Wonder why Muthachhan wasn't as meticulous as he was in all his other work? The entire family had visited this place about ten years back and I remember my mom being all excited when we stood in that compound!
We reached the parish hall of the Basilica of St Mary, Champakulam an hour later - the venue of the camp - well in time, for the proceedings to begin. The meeting was conducted, followed by the medical inspection and there were two doctors. Phew! The number of patients was, however, not as good as we'd expected - it was about 104 but the heartening thing was that there were a lot children, who were in queue, for getting medical advice. The fundamental problem was the psychological trauma, post floods, which will have to be tackled with counseling sessions and we made a note of that requirement. There has been a spate of medical camps in the area!
Met two adorable kids, Marys (Class IV) and Thomas (Class II). The latter came and sat next to us for lunch and talked a lot. Marys was going through an emergency as she'd lost the keys of her new bicycle and her tears took a long time to control. The children could be given health enhancing tonics and vitamin tablets.
We wound up the camp by a half past 1, had a scrumptious lunch and split soon after. While maman and gang set off southward, 'Nattuvelicham' Prathapan - the Foundation's co-ordinator at Alappuzha - dropped me at the bus stand, from where I got a bus to Kochi via Thoppumpady; I was taking this route after a long, long time. From Kochi, I could clamber on to a low floor a/c bus to Kozhikode and reached Kunnankulam around a half past 7 - it took three and a half hours, thanks to the tight traffic. There was pitter patter rain while disembarking and I caught an auto rickshaw - driven by Sudhakaran - a widely read guy and quite knowledgeable about Muthachhan, who has promised to keep in touch.
A quick wash, followed by a sumptuous dinner of noodles and it was time to turn into bed. Felt very tired, wonder why? Lekha was explained the details of the trip and the important aspects of the two places.
A nice, short trip.
Tailpiece.
Ammachi had about 5 acres of land with a sprawling house at 'Chempothu' which was entrusted with an advocate by the name of Xavier, whom Muthachhan believed in, explicitly. But the sad fact was that he took advantage of the leniency and couldn't prevent the encroachment of the land by the other farmers, nearby. This was a sore point between Muthachhan and Ammachi, those days. Wonder why Muthachhan wasn't as meticulous as he was in all his other work? The entire family had visited this place about ten years back and I remember my mom being all excited when we stood in that compound!
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