Day: October 21, 2011

Travel Lessons Learned the Hard Way

- Roshan

I do not like traveling at all. By that I mean long distance of over a few hours or overnight or a few days. I like seeing new places but I hate the actual travel part. I do not enjoying going in trains and prefer buses but they are not practical if you are traveling for more than an overnight journey. I just hate the smell of trains. And I hate the food & the beverages that they serve in Indian trains. I always dread going to the bathroom when I am traveling; it’s ok in a decent hotel room/service apartment but in smaller places or trains, yuck!

I also hate it when there are noisy families with screaming & crying kids as fellow passengers in buses or trains. Oh they can be a huge headache. I remember this one long bus ride; it was packed, I had to stand in the crowded bus, it was raining heavily so all the shutters were down, suffocating and these two kids were singing & shouting so loudly for an hour after which the proceeded to start crying for another 2 hours. I almost threw the parents and the kids outta the bus!

As for packing, I find that I always miss out on something and which I find out only when I reach my destination and unpack. I forget soap or toothpaste or a lungi or a towel or something. Once I forgot to pack socks! And I was there for 6 days so I ran out to buy some cheapo socks at the first chance I got. And sometimes it’s the other way round; I forget to collect all my stuff when I leave the place. I don’t care if it’s soap or toothpaste but anything else and it’s a real problem. I left my phone charger once in a hotel room but luckily someone got it back for me the very next day.

Pack enough and more stuff, keep water with you, keep snacks with you. Recheck your packing, perhaps even keep a check list (and in a total dork moment say a loud “check” each time you check things off your list). Be prepared for falling ill, getting a tummy upset and vomiting. Keep spare cash with you in a couple of different places just in case.

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The Cruelty Of Illness

- Roshan

Two evenings ago my mother went with two other ladies, both family friends who my family have known for over 40 years, to visit another family friend. This 3rd lady is unwell and mostly bed ridden and has been unwell for a couple of years. However things have taken a turn for the worse. It is a nervous disorder which basically shuts down all functions, slowly one at a time. She first started losing her eyesight and then it started affecting her speech and her ability to move.  Her husband & son have hired a home nurse and two house keepers to take care of things at home while this lady has spent the last two years of her life in agony. For a long time she refused to let others see her, with ofcourse the exception of her immediate family. Other than her son Sujith aka Joji who is 2 years younger than me, she has a daughter Sapna who is a year older than me.

I grew up with Sapna and Joji till the age of 11. Since then I have seen them exactly 5 times, at parties and stuff. I’m sure they and their parents was there at my sister’s wedding in 1995 but I do not remember seeing them at that time. I think I saw their mother the last time in 2001. If you met this woman you would be struck by how beautiful, classy and what a wonderful person she is to talk to. She is kind, caring and everyone always comments on the fact that she is very energetic. She used to be involved in so many activities, other than with her husband’s business. She hosted parties for her friends and relatives and adored kids. I remember wondering, along with other people, how she always managed to look so young & pretty even as she became a grandmother – if you saw pictures of her & her daughter even 5 years ago, you’d be hard pressed to guess that they were mother & daughter.

And it is to this person that this awful illness had struck. There is no cure and complete paralysis is a certainty. My mother went to see her and had to excuse herself after a few minutes as she couldn’t hold back the tears from falling. She told me that to see her lying in this state is torture to everyone and she doesn’t get as to why this had to happen to a wonderful woman. I have no answers myself. Why does it have to affect someone so nice?