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Showing posts from November, 2011

Just landed: Back in Karachi.

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"Asalam-u-laikum", I greet the lady behind the counter (at Karachi Airport). She smiles back and responds. Then comes the big task. Reclaim of luggage. My amazingly heavy bags. Filled with half the stuff I never really used. Dragging them on the railways in UK is a story of its own. This little girl, two bags and a lot of friction. And yes to add insult to injury was my huge coat. I just had to wear it. I'd spent quite a fortune on it and if worn in our Pakistani winters would give me a heatstroke. The bags had wheels and were supposed to stand in normal circumstances. But the weight that the bags contained was not normal and the bags would bow down once left alone.

Adios Bournemouth

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I am leaving Bournemouth tomorrow. Will I miss it? No question about it. The people are very warm, weather pretty cold. 'We'll take care of you!', were the first lines from the occupational nurse. And I feel like really taken care of.  A city with one of oldest population, with many above ninety and doing pretty well. I just examined this gentleman who had once worked in Saudi Arabia. He had developed problems with speech while making chatni today. He said he knew how to curries as well, but making chatni. 'If any one gives me just half an hour and asks me to take a religion, I’d choose Islam. While in Saudi Arabia as we were going out with some friends, all of a sudden they stopped doing whatever they were doing and went for prayers. I think that's just lovely!'. Lovely it is. Saudi Arabia, prayer time before soccer game.

Would be thinking of you on Sunday

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'I d be thinking of you on Sunday', says the old lady with the most kind eyes and beautiful face. She has a hairstyle like Diana and carries it so well. A few weeks back I'd examined her and she knew that I had an exam coming up. She was so yellow then (obstructive jaundice ) and now was told that she had a pancreatic growth. She had seemed to digest the news pretty bravely and was looking forward to be discharged home today.  I told her today that exam was on Sunday and that everybody else had already given theirs. 'I know you’d pass', she reassured. I hope I do. Its strange that my exam is on twentieth, about a week after the last date. I hope they are conducting one on the day, at least the mail said so. 'I should sue the college if I there isn't one, right', I explain to myself while talking to this colleague from Sri Lanka. 'Yes, you should tell them that I’ve gone through much tension and trauma while preparing and can't imagine going thr

Hajra left today

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Hajra left today. I’ll definitely miss her. We had some very good times together. We used to laugh like crazy, walk around the residences at night and yack away about the AKUH days! She 'd wake up late everyday and kept creating new records with every passing day. You could consider her less expressive than me but it was always palpable that she cared. We had some wonderful meals together (and some not so wonderful ones as well!). So now what am I doing with myself. I’ll probably enjoy my loneliness. Solitary confinement. As a starter I locked myself out again. The room door just locks shut and the room keys are often left inside. The residences officers (the two ladies there ) know that very well, as they have opened doors for us time and again. This time around, my keys left inside and I without my headscarf. It has happened a number of times before but Hajra was always there. 'Now what do I do', I thought to myself. I can’t go without my headscarf outside. I have just

The caretaker

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Its about three pm here. I just talked to this elderly gentleman who had been admitted with gallstones and had quite a stormy hospital course. In and out of the ICU, he looked pretty fine apart from the bag containing some very green stuff (bile). He was more worried about his wife. She had dementia and he was the only caretaker. He continued to care for her despite his bad lungs and hurting tummy. Its only so much a person can take. He came in, in a pretty serious state but has made through. His wife meanwhile has landed in an old home now. He just goes on and on about how she is her soul mate. She could hardly identify him and has very poor bladder control. 'People would just think that I’ve gotten rid of her now, but that's not how it is..........'. Hajra leaves on Friday. Its just Thursday in between. It will get lonely then. I bought three books for my self to beat the loneliness. Readers Digest, the Fundamentalist and another one I don’t remember the name of. I d br