Before you all think I have been lazy about not posting anything on this blog for so long, let me say this: you are right. Hence, I do render my apology. It's just that there is nothing exciting happening here since the past nearly two weeks. My life goes on as usual, and my weekends have not been as eventful as before.
Spring has arrived. The trees outside my room were shorn of any green when I had first arrived here in November. Now, within a fortnight, they have bloomed - and how! The flowers are a shade of baby pink, and the view from outside my room is nothing short of miraculous. But this is not only with these two trees. Greenery is unfolding everywhere, and flowers are bursting forth. Daffodils are growing in all places - both in the wild and in structured environs, such as our own hospital. Insects are appearing too, and it is a sight I missed sorely during the long winter season. However, to be fair, I have just seen bees and ladybugs. I have yet to see a diversified flora such as the ones we see all around us in tropics.
My knee started hurting about 10 days ago, and the doctors have diagnosed this as a painful cartilage, hurting because of wear and tear associated with my walking and my ... ah ... advancing age. I have therefore not ventured out much. However, right at the beginning of this, on the weekend before the last, I did go for a long session of listening to jazz music being showcased as part of the 2nd Annual Blackpool Jazz and Blues festival. The festival ran for two whole days with live musicians performing at the Winter Gardens and the adjoining Gillow's Bar. Now, I have never watched so much of jazz and blues, but I can tell you the guys and ladies who performed on the stage were simply rocking. There was this 17-year old on the electric guitar, a local Blackpool chap, who was really talented. Then, there was another guy, who was multi-talented: he could play the guitar as well as the drums. There were others, including non-British actors from all over Europe, who all played with a happy nonchalance.
I hobbled on my right leg through the whole week, and now, after 9 days and ingestion of tons of pain-killers, I am almost back to being painlessly mobile, though not completely healed.
The other event that broke the boredom was my assistance to the holding of the D.C.H, examinations in our hospital. The host of the exam was one of our consultants, Dr Rabin Mohanty. He was kind enough to enrol me as a volunteer for the exam. My job was to act as a welcoming member to the candidates. I was to then check their identity documents, take their photos for the record and to hand them their mark-sheet packs. I was also responsible for making sure that candidates did not cheat by sharing their experiences inside the exam area with the other candidates who had yet to go in.
Before the day of the exam, I was invited to an examiners' dinner at the Village Hotel on East Park Drive near the hospital. This was on Friday night. Along with the examiners were present various bigwigs of the hospital, including the hospitals' Executive director, the head of the Families' Division Peter Curtis, and some other distinguished dignitaries. Yogesh Kuba, my colleague, was there as well. The dinner was a sit-down affair with a pre-selected menu; I had chosen a fish cake, a main dish also containing fish and profiteroles for dessert. I have taken some photos of all the dishes, and will post them soon.
The exam was on the following day, a Saturday. I was occupied with it the whole day, from half-past seven in the morning until half-past five in the evening. It was a very enlightening experience. During the lunch-break, the host (Dr Mohanty) had ordered hot Indian lunch. I really enjoyed this, as there were chapattis, tendli bhaaji, onion bhajia and chicken biryani.
Did anything else occur? Well, not really. I did, however, purchase a musical keyboard last week, and have begun to learn how to play it. This is just one more skill that I will attempt to learn while in the U.K. More on this in a subsequent post.
Thank you for reading this rather long post. I promise to spice it up soon with pictures.
Spring has arrived. The trees outside my room were shorn of any green when I had first arrived here in November. Now, within a fortnight, they have bloomed - and how! The flowers are a shade of baby pink, and the view from outside my room is nothing short of miraculous. But this is not only with these two trees. Greenery is unfolding everywhere, and flowers are bursting forth. Daffodils are growing in all places - both in the wild and in structured environs, such as our own hospital. Insects are appearing too, and it is a sight I missed sorely during the long winter season. However, to be fair, I have just seen bees and ladybugs. I have yet to see a diversified flora such as the ones we see all around us in tropics.
My knee started hurting about 10 days ago, and the doctors have diagnosed this as a painful cartilage, hurting because of wear and tear associated with my walking and my ... ah ... advancing age. I have therefore not ventured out much. However, right at the beginning of this, on the weekend before the last, I did go for a long session of listening to jazz music being showcased as part of the 2nd Annual Blackpool Jazz and Blues festival. The festival ran for two whole days with live musicians performing at the Winter Gardens and the adjoining Gillow's Bar. Now, I have never watched so much of jazz and blues, but I can tell you the guys and ladies who performed on the stage were simply rocking. There was this 17-year old on the electric guitar, a local Blackpool chap, who was really talented. Then, there was another guy, who was multi-talented: he could play the guitar as well as the drums. There were others, including non-British actors from all over Europe, who all played with a happy nonchalance.
I hobbled on my right leg through the whole week, and now, after 9 days and ingestion of tons of pain-killers, I am almost back to being painlessly mobile, though not completely healed.
The other event that broke the boredom was my assistance to the holding of the D.C.H, examinations in our hospital. The host of the exam was one of our consultants, Dr Rabin Mohanty. He was kind enough to enrol me as a volunteer for the exam. My job was to act as a welcoming member to the candidates. I was to then check their identity documents, take their photos for the record and to hand them their mark-sheet packs. I was also responsible for making sure that candidates did not cheat by sharing their experiences inside the exam area with the other candidates who had yet to go in.
Before the day of the exam, I was invited to an examiners' dinner at the Village Hotel on East Park Drive near the hospital. This was on Friday night. Along with the examiners were present various bigwigs of the hospital, including the hospitals' Executive director, the head of the Families' Division Peter Curtis, and some other distinguished dignitaries. Yogesh Kuba, my colleague, was there as well. The dinner was a sit-down affair with a pre-selected menu; I had chosen a fish cake, a main dish also containing fish and profiteroles for dessert. I have taken some photos of all the dishes, and will post them soon.
The exam was on the following day, a Saturday. I was occupied with it the whole day, from half-past seven in the morning until half-past five in the evening. It was a very enlightening experience. During the lunch-break, the host (Dr Mohanty) had ordered hot Indian lunch. I really enjoyed this, as there were chapattis, tendli bhaaji, onion bhajia and chicken biryani.
Did anything else occur? Well, not really. I did, however, purchase a musical keyboard last week, and have begun to learn how to play it. This is just one more skill that I will attempt to learn while in the U.K. More on this in a subsequent post.
Thank you for reading this rather long post. I promise to spice it up soon with pictures.
