A hot day!

Today was an extremely hot day.

Got up at 6, the chores and switched on the devotional songs on television while Lekha had lit the lamp at the puja room. The nurse came a trifle late to administer the insulin. A walk on the courtyard after breakfast.

The interim maid had come to work. What I felt bad was that one of the potted plants at our balcony has dried up and withered away. Lack of proper attention and no water had caused its destruction. I hate this sort of callousness.

Had the windows closed around afternoon as hot air was coming in. And definitely, things got to be better.   

A quiet day!

Got up at my usual time but decided to turn off to sleep for some more time and that made me get up late. 

Ajitha came in earlier than usual and administered the morning dosage of insulin. Lekha met Dr (Mrs) Sodhi for her cough.

The maid was at work.

Roy, the electrician, fixed our inverter and he'd come in before lunch.

Back at The Quarterdeck.

Got up at my usual time, the chores and was ready well in time. 

Kannan arrived at 1200 hrs and we'd set off for Guruvayur half an hour later. The journey was smooth; all the problems about the rear tyre being distorted was dispelled without doubt.

We reached Guruvayur by about 1600 hrs; Lekha had gone around to the bank, then to the Harisree supermarket for purchases and to the fruit shop at the western entrance of the temple.

Reached The Quarterdeck and Kannan helped us to put our things into their appropriate places.

Ajitha, a nurse, had come by 1930 hrs to administer insulin at a half past 7. So, that thing has been settled!

Lekha had provided a multi-dimensional dinner and it was yummy!

Tailpiece.

Nice to be back home. For the last month, Padmakumar and Rema looked after us damn well. God bless them!

   

The review.

Got up at our usual time, the chores and the four of us set off for the Amrita Hospital, by an Uber taxi, by a half past 7. It was on reaching the ECHS extension at the Attrium that I realised my faux pas - had not collected a new 'referral' from our polyclinic at Kunnamkulam.

Without wasting time, I decided to avail of the facility as an out patient and shelled out the expenses.

 

Went through a battery of blood tests, ECG, Echo and X-Ray before going across to the Endocrinology department regarding the rationalisation of my insulin intake.

 

Rema had administered me the lunchtime insulin before lunch.

 

Met Dr Rajesh Jose, who was happy to see my progress. The binder around the chest and the crepe bandage have been given the go by.

 

Returned by teatime.

 

 

Tailpiece.

 

Fixed up for returning to Guruvayur tomorrow. Kannan would reach around lunchtime to drive our Chevy back. Hope things go well, without hassles!   

Another quiet day!

Dateline 03 Mar. 

Got up at my usual time, the chores. Rema took my sugar readings and I, then, went for my customary 

walk on the balcony. On Lekha's egging, the exercises were pursued before having my breakfast.

 

Rema has been very diligently preparing food for me with care. Padmakumar has been carefully observant about how I slept during the course of the evening. 

 

Calls from many places regarding my health. Felt nice.

 

 

Tailpiece.

 

Four weeks have elapsed since my admission followed by surgery! Phew, time really flies. Thankfully, no hassles at all, thus far.

Limbering up for the review.

Getting ready for the medical review on the 4th. Hope all restrictions are removed then.

 

Monish brought in our car by about 11.

 

Lekha had taken an online advice from Dr Hareendrababu for her left eye. Hope it's nothing serious.

 

 

Tailpiece.

 

Our maid has been given appropriate instructions by Lekha, regarding our return.

The Social Worker's Day.

Today is the Ides of March!

 

Today is also the 116th birth anniversary of Shri PN Panicker, the father of the Kerala Library Movement and the architect of Kerala attaining 100% literacy in Apr '91.

 

On 14 Sep 1945, PN Panicker had organised a mammoth meeting at Ambalappuzha with the then Diwan of Travancore, Sir CP Ramaswamy Aiyar, inaugurating the event. 47 rural libraries had joined in the mega event. From then on, PN Panicker with scarce resources but with the goodwill of the people - despite heavy odds against him - kept working on his dream, "a library in every village in his state".

 

The Travancore Library Movement became the 'Thiru-Kochi Library Movement' in 1949 when the two princely states merged together and it further became the 'Kerala Library Movement' (Kerala Grandhasala Sangham) in 1956. 

 

When the Kerala Library Movement was celebrating its silver jubilee in 1970, PN Panicker had single-handedly set up a network of about 5,280 libraries all across the state. He used to travel across every nook and cranny of the state, often subsisting on bananas and tap water, sleeping on shop verandahs through the night!

 

Such was his personal commitment to the cause that he'd chosen!

 

During the silver jubilee celebrations, the common people asked him, "Sir, you've set up so many libraries all across the state but how do we benefit from them when we neither know how to read or write?" 

 

It was then that PN Panicker focused his attention on the Literacy Movement which culminated in his state attaining 100% literacy in Apr 1991.

 

PN Panicker's birth anniversary is celebrated as the ''Social Worker's Day"!    

Tailpiece.

 

The entire family, along with well wishers and friends, had gathered at the foot of Muthachchan's statue at Poojappura in Thiruvananthapuram to offer floral tributes around a half past 8.