An update

It has been a long time since I entered a post here. Just to update everyone, here is a simple synopsis of things that have happened in my life:
1. I rushed home to make peace with my dying mother in the third week of August.
2. I completed my first month in the new home
3. I went back to Mumbai on my planned fortnight-long holiday from the 17th of September to the 20th. In between, my mum passed away to meet her Maker.
4. Upon returning, within a week, I took my study break to visit the United States of America on my first ever visit. The purpose was to participate in the World Congress of Gastroenterology - where I was to mount, display and answer questions on my scientific poster at the Orange County Convention Center, West Concourse, in Florida, USA. I stayed in a budget hotel for 5 nights and used some of the free days to roam around and visit some of the major city-wide attractions, including Universal Studios and Seaworld.
5. Life has gone back to a relaxation mode and I have resumed my work in the hospital.

And that's pretty much it, insofar as a synopsis goes.  

Ten plus days in my new abode - and now, I am connected!

The connection I chose is the one from sky.com. I purchased the internet broadband, the TV and the landline all from them. They were to come to my place on the 23rd to install the internet, but I was compelled to cancel that date as I went urgently to India on the previous morning. I had to re-schedule it - and the earliest reschedule date they gave me was the 6th of September. In between, they sent an engineer to install the TV set-top box - on the 29th of August. Hence, by that evening, Sky TV channels started beaming into my house. I was, after a long gap of over 22 months, finally able to view Indian channels on Sky. Thus, I was now able to choose between over 20 Indian channels, many of them in HD, such as Sony, Sony Sab, Sony Max, Times Now,  Aaj Tak, News 18, Star, Rishtey, etc. etc. Within the last 10 days, I have weaned off British TV and am engrossed in watching Indian TV. 

The internet guys came on the appointed date - i.e. on the 6th. By 4:00 p.m., I got connected by wireless to the worldwide web! I am now able to keep both my mobile phone and my laptop connected simultaneously. This had hitherto been impossible to do when I was staying in the hospital quarters since they allowed only 1 device to be connected at one time. The speed of the connection is excellent as well, since I am now able to download at speeds of over 1.5mbps.

Internet connectivity also allows me to view "box sets" - entire series of shows, by downloading them to the set-top box and then viewing them at my own leisure. My set-top box can download three programs at a time for later viewing. And this is an amazing feature indeed if you cannot decide which shows to save for later and which to skip.

That's it for now. Do keep reading, sharing and commenting on my blog entries. Thank you.

Settling in

Over the last two days, it finally happened. I moved out of my residence inside the hospital and into a new place, rented at £ 560/month, plus actuals on electricity, internet and water, plus Council taxes, at Victoria Mansions, a very clean, upmarket place just 3 minutes outside the main entrance of the hospital. I made the move with a professional person who moved everything for me in his van. It had taken me over 36 hours to put all my stuff into bags, boxes and plastic bags. Maqsood, or Max as he calls himself, was clearly astounded to see so much luggage from a "bro" as he called me. It was about 50-odd pieces of luggage. In the end, we forgot two boxes which I had kept in the kitchen. Be that as it may, I moved out with most of my goods on Sunday morning. Later, I returned to the room to access the hospital WiFi to do my work over the net and even slept in the old place on Sunday night. On Monday, however, over the day, I settled in. I had purchased some second-hand furniture from the British Heart Foundation Furniture shop at the Town Centre - and they delivered all the pieces today. 

It has been a very tiring day indeed, but this is my first ever entry on the blog from the new place, hence, I am feeling very happy. I will post pictures and videos of the new place soon, so please wait for them a little. I made some sheera today to start my kitchen activities. This is a traditional sweet halwa that is made from semolina. I used a sweetener instead of sugar. After this, I also made some potato and drumstick sabji. However, I decided to order food for dinner. As I write this, my food is likely on its way to me. 

That is all I have to write for now. Tomorrow, I expect my TV line to be installed. Later, in the first week of September, I will get my WiFi and internet. Today, I am using the net over my mobile to surf the net on the laptop (Mobile Hotspot). 

Writing after a long time

It is true that I have been very busy the entire last month. Just last week, I had to rush home to India to help my family look after my mum who took suddenly and critically ill and was admitted to the ICU. She came down with sepsis secondary to infection in a bed-sore. With treatment, during the three or four days that I was there, she managed to pull out of the critical stage and has gradually improved over the last 10-12 days that have elapsed since. 

In other news, I am trying to get a visa to visit the U.S. to present a paper (a poster, actually) in Orlando, Florida, in mid-October. This would be at the World Congress of Gastroenterology. Towards this end, I went for an interview at the US Embassy in London. The interview went off well, I think, and I should be granted a visa to go there. 

Now, I am shifting to new rented premises outside the hospital. It's bye-bye to the rooms I resided in for the last over 20 months. It will be a bitter-sweet parting, as these 1 1/2 years have taught me a lot ... and not just about my work, but also about living alone in a developed country, where one can have anything one wants by ordering it online or buying it in a store. I have hoarded so much stuff that when the van-renter came to pick up my things to transport it to my new premises, he simply gawked and said he had never seen as much luggage with a bro! Well, my luggage was phenomenal in volume - stretching to over 300 kg by his estimate. It consisted of several cardboard boxes and literally dozens upon dozens of plastic bags. As I write this, I have shifted all my luggage to the new premises, but a lot is still to be unpacked and put away in its proper place. 

In the afternoon, I visited the Furniture shop of the British Heart Foundation and bought several used pieces of furniture that will be delivered to my new place tomorrow. These include a dining table, two chairs, a glass display case, a computer table, and several other smaller items. Once they are all set-up, I should be ready to live in my new place.

So, where is it? It is a mere 5 minutes' walk away from the hospital in what is known as Victoria Mansions. Hopefully, I will complete my move within the next 36 hours. HERE is a map showing my new place. It is only 300 meters away from my current location (and the hospital) as the crow flies, but translates to about half a km if you follow the roads.

In quite other news, I went to the Blackpool Livewire 2017 event at the Promenade yesterday. The event organisers had offered free passes to the concert as well as to the after-dinner party for the first two days of the event, viz. on Friday and Saturday. I had requested passes for two people only for the Saturday, and the passes were waiting for me in my inbox when I returned from India. They had upgraded my pass to a VIP pass. This pass enabled me to access the VIP area on the promenade. This was an elevated shamiana facing the large stage where singers and performers came, traipsing in a line, to entertain the crowds. 

Is anything else happening? Yes. I did a few registrar locums now. One was at Whiston last month and the second was just a few nights ago at Oldham. Both of them were in Paediatrics and I guess they went reasonably well. 

At my own trust, I am now a person that is increasingly entrusted with tasks done by middle-grade doctors, and I guess my progression is just about at par with my expectations. I should be looking at better prospects once my current tenure expires in February 2018. Whether it will mean a proper middle-grade job in Blackpool, or whether I will have to look elsewhere, I do not know. We will have to wait and see. 

And that brings me to the end of the post. Do let me know your reactions to this post and comment on what you think. Thank you.

Weekend trip to NE England - Northumberland - Farne, Seahouses and Bamburgh - II

A new day and a new morning. I was agog to reach Seahouses to start my bird-watching adventure. Of course, breakfast was free at the hotel I was lodged at. I quickly got ready and went down to be allotted a table all for myself. Michael's wife (I can't remember her name) was the one coordinating the breakfast service. She did have all the politeness that hosts do, but I do think she is a bit impatient and suffers fools badly, as she made me out to be one. I was simply asking her nicely where I was to be sat, and what was there for breakfast. She sounded a bit terse, but it could be my own perception that was a bit off.

In any case, the breakfast was scrambled egg with salmon, toast with butter and jam, and tea. It was quite filling, actually. I had already brought all my stuff down to the restaurant so that after breakfast, I immediately set off for the nearby bus stand to catch the next bus that would take me to Seahouses. This town is about 10-11 minutes away by bus and the journey is quite picturesque. I happily arrived at the quaint town and walked a short distance to the seafront, where I located the ticketing office of William Shiel's boat trips - the one that I had booked my journeys with. My plan was to do three journeys - but the pelagic tour that I had set my heart on was not available as it only starts operating from late July each year; hence, I was going to do the Inner Farne island tour today and the Staple Island tour the following day. I purchased my Inner Farne ticket and then went around the place to browse the pier where our boats would finally depart from. I walked into the local office of the National Trust - this was a makeshift kind of small kiosk on the pier. I was greeted by one of their volunteers. I was informed that their annual membership would allow me to visit over 600 sites all over the UK absolutely free of cost, and I would also get to park my car free at each of those resorts/places. Now, I do not have a car, and I am unlikely to go country trotting to that extent, but the amount is so low that it makes sense to take an annual membership. Thus, I became a member of the Trust - paying nothing today, but aware that my membership fees would be debited monthly from my current account. I was given a sticker which would make my landing on Inner Farne free (the normal rate for a non-member is £ 9.00).

I was taking a few pictures of the Farne islands from the pier and suddenly, my camera battery ran out of power. I had not been prudent enough to charge it the previous night and I thought I had no spare battery, so I ran helter-skelter to find me a way to either charge my battery with the charger I had with me (it turned out to be the wrong kind of charger) or to buy a new battery (which I could not do, as there was no place in Seahouses to buy it from). Eventually, when I boarded the tour, I could not use my DSLR camera at all. I did not even carry it with me. I just left it with the people who were minding the National Trust kiosk. All the pictures I took were with the mobile phone camera. I present some of them to you.

Male Eider in eclipse

Inner Farne island from the pier

A closer look at the Inner Farne island

Eiders (there were many)

Shore line

Arctic tern, fiercely protects its babies/eggs

Puffins, resting on the green areas

Holes in the ground where puffins nest

Shags - adult and babies

Shags, cormorants, gulls etc

Razorbill

I returned to my room at Beadnell towers by the afternoon, It is quite a cozy place and I enjoyed the evening very much. For dinner, I went down once again to the restaurant. Initially, I just whiled away some time by ordering a coffee and sipping it ever so slowly so that the time kept elapsing. After I had a feeling that I had sat for a long enough time, I ordered some dinner and a non-alcoholic beverage and enjoyed it. 

Presently, I joined the land of the dead as I retired back in my room and went to sleep. The next day, given the right opportunities I would be visiting a couple of new places before I boarded any form of transport that would return me to Blackpool.

Weekend trip to NE England - Northumberland - Farne, Seahouses and Bamburgh - I

So, I had always been keen to travel to Seahouses to take the trip from there by boat to the Farne Islands to watch seabirds. I knew I had three off-days from the 1st to the 3rd of July, and I tried to book a hotel almost a fortnight ago. Unfortunately, most of the hotels in Seahouses were full, too costly, or had no single rooms. Hence, on Thursday last, I gave up on the idea of going on this trip.

By the time it changed from Thursday to Friday, though, my mind was screaming to me to listen to its inner voice. I booked my railway trips, sorted out my funds and was ready to travel the same afternoon.

I set off around mid-morning. My trip would take me from Blackpool to York and then from York to Berwick (pronounced berrick) upon Tweed. From this place, I would need to go by bus to a place called Beadnell that is about 3 miles from the Seahouses pier where the boats would ferry me to Farne Islands. The journey that commenced from my home at noon culminated in my checking into the hotel at half past seven. That means a good, solid travel time of 7.5 hours! (This would be repeated in reverse on my return trip, hehe.)

I went with the flow, as it were. The initial trip from Blackpool North railway station to York railway station was through Northern Railways. The train was quite empty when it started, then filled up and emptied off and on at Preston, Bradford Interchange, and so on. This train has no pantry car, no trolley service, nowhere to go and have drinking water nor any drinking water bottles (as I have seen elsewhere in the UK) and no plug points to charge one's mobile phones or laptops. The only interesting thing that happens is when the train reaches the Interchange. From here on, the train direction reverses! Which means that instead of facing forward, which I was, earlier, the last leg of my journey saw me facing the rear view as the train was now going backwards as it sped towards York.

Arriving near York station

Inside York station where I changed trains

I had some coffee and a lunch here at York

At York station, I had a much-needed break where I stopped at a small tuck shop to eat a lamb curry with bread. This shop is called ----- From York, I boarded a Virgin East Coast train with all the modern trappings that Virgin trains have. As I had booked the ticket over the net, I also got a code to use the onboard internet for free. I am sure the Virgin trains to London do not have free internet, so this was a pleasant surprise. I did have an issue where the charger points in the entire compartment where I was booked a seat were non-functional, so I requested and was granted leave to shift to another compartment and find myself an empty, unreserved seat and use that one for the rest of the journey. This made things a lot more bearable. The journey takes more than 1.5 hours, so it was a bit long, but the views of the northeastern countryside were really remarkable. We did pass a few important towns such as Darlington and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Berwick arrived at around 5:00 p.m. As it swung into view, I took photos of the bridges that span across the Tweed River here. 

A beautiful bridge upon the Tweed river

Darlington on the way to Berwick upon Tweed

Berwick upon Tweed

Berwick station

Outside the railway station, where I got onto a bus to Beadnell

From Berwick upon Tweed, it is an hour-long bus ride to Beadnell, where I had booked a hotel room for two nights. The bus that takes you there is an Arriva bus and the # is X-18. It runs three or four times a day, ending at Alnwick, and it goes via Seahouses and beyond it to Beadnell, a small beachside town where I had booked a hotel room in the Hotel Beadnell Towers. I reached there at half-past seven. The owners are a couple. The guy, someone named Michael, was around when I reached. He instructed his reception staff to guide me. I was allotted a single bedroom on the first floor. I went up, showered, and then returned to the restaurant below to have my dinner, a delicious chicken curry with naan bread and rice. I confess I was unable to finish the huge dinner plate that was served!

There was free wi-fi here, and I returned to my room sometime around 10 p.m., contemplating on my exciting adventure to unfold the next day. Little did I guess what misadventure it was going to be - but more in my next post. 

United Kingdom - a country under a cloud

For the last several months, all we have been hearing is bad news - bad news of the worst kind. First, there were the Manchester attacks, then the London Bridge attack, then the Grenfell Building fire, and now, an attack on London on innocent Muslims by a white man who muttered that he wanted to kill all Muslims.

Whatever is happening? I think there are rumours working overtime. Before the elections, I heard an Englishman say that the attack just before the elections at London Bridge was orchestrated by the sitting PM herself to garner more votes in the name of shock. After the elections, someone else said that the attacks were orchestrated by Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party. This confusion makes me realise that both contentions are wrong and that all these attacks are as proclaimed - either terrorist attacks or a grossly unfortunate accident (the building fire) or simply bad racism (the attack outside the mosque). 

I am certain more bad times are to follow. Economically, the UK is going through a bad patch as well. Brexit negotiations have begun today and the UK will have to give in on many issues, thanks to the lack of a clear parliamentary majority by Theresa May's Conservative (Tory) party.

Nothing much to add here. A reflection on the troublesome days is much in order.

Working Registrar shifts this weekend

Yes, that happened this weekend. I had originally a 2-day off, but I had booked a locum shift in Bolton NHS hospital in Neonates. I received a request to work as a registrar within my own trust as they had no one to cover the shifts. I agreed and worked these two days with Dr. Mohammed Ahmed as my consultant. I think it went well. 

The result of my accepting these two shifts will, of course, be good for my wallet, as I will get paid for them. For my work-life balance, though, these two shifts were poorly placed. In fact, I have been doing continuous duties from the 10th of this month. In the week from last Monday to this Sunday, I did nearly 80 hours of work! That is at least 11 hours per day! I feel fatigued. 

However, professionally speaking, the two duties I did will count towards improving my confidence of working as a middle-grade doctor, so I have no regrets. All credit to my head of the department for allowing me this as it is only thanks to him and his other colleagues that I was allowed to work in the capacity of a registrar. 

The best thing about working as a middle grade, though, was the fact that I was working with my own colleagues who were filling in as SHOs while I worked as a middle grade. Their inputs were precious and very useful in making my job look much easier than it probably is. It also helped that the nursing staff was very supportive. There were a few quibbles with my writing down the doses that they thought were "unconventional", but Dr. Ahmed was supportive and helped clear such hurdles.

All in all - a very good pair of days indeed. 

Thank you for reading!

#LondonAttacks

Once again, extremism has raised its ugly head and wiped away 7 lives, destroyed the hopes and aspirations of all those connected to them - and injured almost 50 others, at least a dozen of them critically. 

Three men, travelling in a large vehicle, first rammed this into a crowd of innocent pedestrians atop the London Bridge, then took the vehicle into a market area and, parking it, got off the vehicle and began to run around, randomly knifing people going about their usual lives. Within 8 minutes of the police receiving news of the attack, they were killed in an intense round of police fire. They were found to be wearing what seemed to be jackets rigged with explosives. However, the tin cans attached to their jackets proved to be fake ones. 

As I write this, the police investigation is ongoing. Patients are admitted to five hospitals in the vicinity, among them the King's College and the Guys and Thomas' Hospitals. Nearly a dozen of the injured victims are critical, while the rest are recuperating. 

Among those dead is a Canadian citizen, a New Zealander and two Frenchmen. 

A quick thought: this is the third attack by terrorists in three months in the U.K. The last attack was just 12 days ago in the Manchester Arena. What is happening? 

I was talking to a British lady today while walking in Stanley Park. We agreed that Britain was reaping the effects of what it was sowing all over the world, blindly following the United States of America. The picture of Theresa May being led by the hand by President Trump symbolises this more than anything else. 

May and Trump (click this link)

If only the U.K. government stops meddling in the affairs of the various countries it is engaged with, Islamic extremism will stop attacking it - at least this is my opinion. It has become almost impossible for terrorists to attack the U.S.A. That is why, they are now targetting the softer option - the United Kingdom. This is a war, and the U.K. should start protecting itself rather than try to "restore" peace, democracy etc. in other countries. 

The lady I was talking to is an ex-journalist who was shooting birds with her Canon camera. We both felt that the people of U.K. are becoming increasingly frustrated with the way things are going. Racism is making a comeback, she said. While she was putting this down to politics, I felt that people were basically relinquishing common sense and attacking anyone not their own without understanding that without immigrants, the U.K. would be finished as a world power. 

Back to the attacks: there will be a general election in the next four days' time. The Tories may well continue to be in power, and May will then have the power to negotiate hard with the European countries to retain its value in a post-Brexit world the way she wants to. Or, as a dark horse, the Labour Party may win and Jeremy Corbyn will be swept into power as the new Prime Minister.

Only time will tell - within a week, we will know the outcome.

The election comes at a time when the people will still be reflecting on the London Attacks. May the souls of those who died rest in Peace. Amen.

Medical Education and Practice - India vs England

One of my Facebook friends has asked me to pen a post on comparing the teaching system in the U.K. with that from India. Frankly, there is no comparison. Firstly, the kind of illnesses we see in India and the ones that we see in the U.K. are quite different. Secondly, our healthcare systems are completely different. In India, we work with limited budgets, whether in government/municipal hospitals or in private clinics/hospitals. 

In the U.K., too, there are some budgetary constraints, but the supplies are all top-class, and there is no shortage of essential as well as non-essential stuff, except for the items which are in the very expensive range. 

Thirdly, and this is the most important difference: the system is driven by evidence - the kind of evidence that comes from research and trials - and is completely based on protocols that are specific to each institution but framed from national and international data that is published by national-level agencies. Such evidence is periodically reviewed so as to be abreast of the current knowledge. This kind of evidence is completely lacking in India. Individual doctors may, from time to time, update their knowledge base and use this to help their own patients. Devising of hospital-wide uniformity of treatment never does occur, so that every doctor treats the same condition differently, based on their own learning, experience, and hearsay from their peers.

Coming to teaching: We have excellent teaching in India as well, but it is fragmented. Doctors learn from their seniors when they are students, but as soon as they start a private practice, they give secondary importance to continuing education. The Medical Council of India and state-level bodies like the Maharashtra Medical Council etc. have recently moved to enforce that every registered practitioner should have a certain number of points to be able to stay registered on the professional register. However, the points can easily be collected by sending the money to the organisers of teaching programs and then receiving the participation certificate in absentia. Many a times, doctors will attend a conference or learning seminar just to get the points, but not use the learning to improve their practice. Occasionally, doctors will, for reasons of expediency, join programs that are not even from their own speciality, just to gather the required points.  

In the U.K., learning is referred to as teaching! Thus, when a student says that they are going for teaching, they are actually going for learning. While I haven't done my formal medical training here and cannot, therefore, comment on how their teachers are, I can definitely say that medical students here are far more experienced than Indian medical students are, in practical, hands-on experience. This is because, from their third year onwards, when they attend the wards (just as we did or do in India), they begin to clerk patients in a proforma, taking the patient's history, examine them, etc. and they will, in their fourth and fifth years, be expected to give a differential diagnosis, and formulate a plan of management for that patient. This allows them to think like practicing doctors years before they actually will practice clinical medicine. 

What really makes the difference in their training, however, is the fact that they have to collect, and later produce, evidence of their learning. This has to be uploaded by them electronically, and I have often had students presenting a medical case to me and then coming back a few minutes later to take my digital signature on their mobile phones to collect the evidence that they did, in fact, present a case to me. They will also sometimes send us a link to give a feedback on how their performance went. This is a requirement for them and not an option. This enables them to advance professionally in a more structured, evidence-led method than the kind of haphazard learning that we have in India.

I hope this answers the question for my friend, and helps others too, to understand how the system works in the U.K.   

Weekend update

I have been quite irregular of late - in updating this blog. My apologies to the regular readers. If you are stumbling upon this blog for the first time, welcome. I am an Indian-origin Paediatrician who writes about his life in the U.K. here. My name is Taher. It has been over 18 months since I moved to Blackpool. This is a coastal vacation town on the Irish Sea coast and geographically belongs to North-West England, and to Cumbria, and even more specifically, to Lancashire. 

I am working as a junior doctor in the NHS-run Blackpool Victoria Hospital. I am gradually learning a lot of practical skills and am able to navigate the system almost 100% now. 

Last week, a few positive things happened. I inserted a peripheral long line into a newborn baby for the first time - and it was quite easy. I was supervised by the consultant who is in charge of neonatal services at our hospital, and who is also MY educational supervisor. The baby was the second of twins and was born, like his sibling, 9 weeks earlier than term. I had observed this procedure 2-3 times but had never done it myself. Hence, doing it accurately and correctly the first time was extremely satisfying. To understand what this procedure is all about, see THIS YT video. 

On Saturday and Sunday, I went to Whiston Hospital to do locum duties. They had arranged for my accommodation within the Neonatal unit by allocating to me one of the rooms reserved for relatives of babies who are admitted to the unit. Hence, it was a breeze to work. The Paediatric department of the hospital has two wards - one each on the third and the fourth floors. This can mean a bit of running around between two floors. Their A & E is located on the bottom floor, and one keeps getting called there to see new patients who have been referred to them through the G,P, or the community walk-in centre. While Saturday was a relatively quiet day, I had several calls from the A&E on Sunday. I did, however, find the time to go for lunch in the hospital's top floor restaurant on both the days. They had a lamb rogan josh with rice on Saturday. It was very good. On Sunday, I had their lamb hot pot with pastry. This was so-so, but wholesome, to say the least. 

On both the days, I had dinner from my own supplies that I had brought with me from Blackpool. This was mostly a collection of samosas and lamb pattice with chappatis. In addition to the meals, I had a lot of tea and some coffee - machines with free tea and coffee are installed in every clinical area. Overall, it was a good experience. 

That's it for now. See you around. Do follow me if you wish by adding your email ID to the Follower's list. And, if you feel like it - do comment in the space below this post to tell me what you thought about this post. 

And hey, do view that video ... Thanks. 

#ManchesterAttacks

On the night of the 22nd of this month, Ariana conducted a music concert at the Manchester Arena. Everything went well until the very end. She had done an encore and had exited the stage. People  - a lot of them youngsters and even children - were beginning to leave the venue when a large explosion occurred just outside the arena near the ticketing window. Set off by a man who died in the explosion himself, and subsequently identified as Salman Abedi - a native Mancunian who acted most likely on behalf of ISIS - this explosion killed 22 people, many of them children, and caused injuries in another 59, some of them critically injured - and changed the threat perception of the UK from level 4 to level 5 (critical).

This event is now officially the most sinister terrorist attack on Manchester, the third largest city in the U.K. Unlike other major cities, Manchester is one of the most diverse cities in the U.K. with people from different parts of the world and all the various religions of the world assimilating together for the common good. To have such a dastardly attack that shook the entire country was indeed very shocking and unbelievable. 

The country is on the cusp of a general election in less than 15 days, and yet, everyone is in no mood for electioneering or campaigning at this point of time.

The city has moved on, but the event shall linger on in the minds of every person in the city, in the country and, dare I say, in the world. 

May the souls of the dead rest in peace, and may quick recovery occur among those who are still under treatment. Amen.

Flashback to day 1 of my vacation: an interesting quartet

Blog entry: 27^th April 2017: Flight to India 

I must admit that I haven’t found the time to connect with you, dear readers, from the time I flew to my homeland from Manchester on the 27^th of April. The flight was interesting, as were my flight companions. On the first leg of my Air France flight, I flew in a smaller airplane run by AF’s partner Flybe. It would take us over England and then over the Channel to Paris’ Charles De Gaulle airport in just over an hour. I sat in a window seat. This flight had 2x2 seats, so I had just co-passenger. He was a giant of a man, around 40+ with a simple English name that I can’t remember now. He and I got to talking, mostly about a GPS app that he was constantly studying on his iPhone. It seemed to be like any Maps display, only, much more detailed and multi-coloured. It reminded me of my school day maps with physical contours of the land, etc.

He told me that this was an open app that one could get on both Apple and Android devices, but its accuracy was underpinned by the defense sector. It cost a huge amount of money as it was highly detailed. If I am not wrong, it costs nearly GBP 500-600 to buy the maps on this app! I was stunned. I wondered why he needed this app. He told me he was a trekker who climbed hills alone, and he needed to know exactly where he was if he ever got lost!

As we touched down at the Charles de Gaulle airport, we parted ways. My luggage would arrive in Mumbai directly. I was walking towards the right gate for my connecting flight. I met, quite by chance, a young woman who looked Asian/Indian. We began chatting. She was Jerlin. Born and brought up in Mumbai, Jerlin is a Keralan-descent trained nurse who had reached Paris from Ireland where she had begun work in the past year. We stuck together while awaiting our flight. She told me this was her first holiday to India after her joining the Nursing force in Ireland, and that she was going there to attend a family wedding. Jerlin was a bubbly young woman who kept laughing. She was a very good listener too. Her luggage was loaded with gifts and chocolates for her entire family.

Our flight to Mumbai departed on time, and it would take us over 7 hours to fly this distance. My seat companion was a Gujarati IT person called Mehul. We shook hands and spoke to each other. As the plane cut the distance, we chatted away. He has settled in Toronto, Canada. He told me he travels to India nearly once, sometimes, twice in a year. Happily married and with kids (I can’t remember how many), he was an extremely nice person.

Once the seat-belt sign went off, we both got up to stretch our legs. We met a young Bengali woman of Indian origin named Benazir who, like us, had got up to stretch.

The two of us and she struck a conversation near the steward’s service area (which is also where we had our seats – viz. Mehul and me). Our friendship, casual though it was, grew slowly, and we were chatting away for an hour or more while other passengers came and went past us. We then met Benazir, a Bengali woman who was based in Berlin, where she was pursuing a doctorate in English literature at the Free University of Berlin. She had a remarkable story to share, and both Mehul and I were engrossed in her telling it. Presently, who should come around to visit the loo (which was right ahead of our seats) but Jerlin. She and the three of us were now a quartet, and we continued to chat for another hour or so. It was a great thing. The stewards, one of them a smart Frenchman who was jovial and very helpful, gave us space to continue to stand in a tight group and continue to hold the conversation.

Eventually, we parted and returned to our seats when the stewards announced a snack service. Outside, the skies had turned dark as we were flying due east from Paris. We would arrive at half past eleven in the night at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. From here, Jerlin and I would go to our respective homes, Mehul would fly onward to his home in Gujarat, and Benazir, to her home in Hyderabad. We promised to stay in touch.

Our baggage safely retrieved, I then hired a cool cab and reached home at a little after half-past one in the morning. It was now the 28^th of the month. I would sleep after a bath and tea. The next day, after my 3-4 hour nap, I would begin my Indian vacation.

Hectic vacation in Mumbai - read a bit about everything I experienced and did

So far, it's been a very hectic vacation indeed. To top it all, coming to India when it is at its near hottest has been energy sapping and tiring. On the flip side, of course, it was my first opportunity in over five years to be in Mumbai at the height of the "hapoos" (alphonso) mango season. The alphonso mango is the king of mangos, and among the top in the tastiest fruit of the world. I was very fortunate to get to eat this fruit repeatedly. One of my medico friends Dr. Patankar actually enhanced my happiness by gifting me 2 boxes of the original, untreated variety of the fruit that is known as the "Devgad" alphonso, after its place of origin. He gave these to me when his family and ours met each other at Goa, where I had gone for a two-and-a-half day vacation.

I visited my mom for the first time after she was struck down with a paralytic stroke in January this year. She is now confined to bed, but is mentally alert and plods on with the help of a 24x7 maid by the name of Tehmina. I found her to be going through a kind of depression as she struggles to understand why she, among all, was afflicted with this life-limiting illness.

Among the other highlights of my brief vacation was my completing the formalities for renewal of my registration with the Maharashtra Medical Council for the next five years; my meeting most of my mom's side relatives at a function organised by my younger brother Murtuza to celebrate his son's misaaq; my visit to Nishrin's sister-in-law Balwinder's home with Inas; our entire family visiting Nishrin's cousin sister Dalvir Kaur's home; our family's outings to see Bahubali 2 (Inas and I went separately, while Nishrin went with Hannah); my gathering of the various foodstuffs I am going to carry back with me to the U.K. (including farsans, chapatis, dry fruit, etc.); our family's visit to a stand-up comedy show (a delight); our eating out at various restaurants, esp the "Lemon Leaf" restaurant behind the Taj at Colaba, and "Oh! Calcutta", where we had dinner on the 14th to celebrate Mother's Day AND Hannah's birthday. 

In addition, our family also went for dinner to other friend's places. And, on one happy occasion, I had lunch with a school friend Farhad Khursetjee. This was at Sassanian's - a Parsi Irani cafe located near the Metro Cinema. I must not forget the excellent dinner and experience my wife and I had when we went to attend a wedding reception of the son of Dr Shailesh Joshi - a visit to a hall in Hiranandani Powai property. This was remarkable!

I must say that we spent the best days of my vacation in Goa, where we went on the 2nd of May. We stayed at the Hotel Ibis styles at Calangute. This was a well-appointed resort. You can read my review of this on Tripadvisor HERE. We went to the beach at Calangute to participate in water-sports. Also, on all the two or three days we stayed in Goa, we had traditional Goan seafood on most of the occasions. The hotel's own meals were quite delicious. We also ate at Britto's at Baga beach. 

During my stay, there were unhappy events as well. Mrs. Sakina Palitanawala - the lady who minded and loved my girls when they were very young - passed away, as did Mr. Shabbir Disawala, a school friend who died from cancer.

How can I forget my meal with the Kedy doctors - Muhbeen, Arif and Ashfaq. As usual, we met at the Persian Darbar and had a goat raan biryani - this is so huge in size that we are never able to finish it. I took a large portion of the remnant as a parcel for Hannah, who loves it a lot and had asked me to bring some if any was left over. 

I returned to Blackpool on the 16th of May in the early part of the afternoon.

Counting down to my India vacation began a week ago

Yes, it is true. I am going to India for my 4th vacation since I came to the UK a year and five months ago. This time, I am staying there for a fortnight - and am really looking forward to spending quality time with my family. We also have a mini-holiday planned, and some great restaurants and food-binging to look forward to.

What have I been doing these last few weeks? In a line: working hard. To be honest, it has been a gruelling fortnight so far, and it is only the next few days that I will get a few "normal" 8-hour duties. I fly out on Thursday morning and hope to arrive in Mumbai late the same night.

Yesterday, I was on leave and went to pick up my friend Shabbir M's son Ahmed Ali from Blackpool North railway station. He had come to Blackpool on a small one-night holiday on my invitation. Ahmed Ali is a  tall, lanky boy almost as old as Inas. He is pursuing research in his chosen field of avian viruses with a company located near London.

We went on a walk to the town centre, where, on a roadside food and fun fair, we listened to a live band and had some Caribbean food - goat curry and brown rice. We walked around the area, even venturing near the Houndshill shopping centre before returning to the bus stand to go to my home within the hospital. After keeping our stuff, we started almost immediately for a walk to Stanley Park via the Golfing grounds behind the hospital.  I pointed out many sights inside the Park. We also had an ongoing bird-identification monologue from my side, which may have interested him a bit. 

Ahmed Ali with the mounted police near the Municipal Council building

For the record, the horse behind me is 16.3 hands tall and is 16 years old

Ahmed Ali in my lounge

With Ahmed Ali at the town centre

In Stanley Park

The home-made dinner

His phone battery ran out within half an hour of our being together earlier in the evening, so I took most of his pictures. We returned to the hospital for a bit and then went back to the town centre and the promenade. As we both held a one-day pass on Blackpool transport, we took a tram to Starr Gate - the southern terminal of the tramway. I believe he had a good time watching the sights. We returned to the Tower after a while and then by bus back home. 

For dinner, I had made chicken masala and rice, which we both partook of. We ended the day by sharing some stories. More on this in my next post. 

Nearly three months on the rota

I am quite happy to share with you the ongoing rota of a senior house officer that I am currently a part of since the beginning of February 2017. I have learned so much and am continuing to do so. Yes, it is much longer work hours, but, also, it gives me a shot at improving my clinical skills and decision making. Too, I get paid an extra amount for doing what is called duty in unsocial hours such as weekends and nights. 

The rota is quite different from week to week. On some weeks, I do just about 48 hours, whereas, on others, I do over 56 hours of work per week. In the past few weeks, I have had an off only on weekends, with long work hours on all the weekdays. On Tuesday, although I wasn't working, I travelled to Manchester to attend a study workshop on Communication skills. It was quite rewarding. 

Cooking-wise, I do get a chance to experiment on the lighter weeks. On the heavier ones, I get by with what I have in my refrigerator or eat in the hospital restaurant if that is possible. Occasionally, I have skipped meals at the end of the day because I was too tired to cook something. I then end up having tea and biscuits or just fried eggs with bread. 

On my Manchester trip, I went to the Asian foods supermarket (Worldwide Foods) and bought some stuff to have over the coming week. Not much, though, as I am preparing to go to Mumbai for vacation. However, I did parcel a lamb biryani from a Pakistani restaurant called Spicy Mint and it is located just across the road from Worldwide Foods at Rusholme (which is just over the signal from the Central Manchester Hospitals where I attended the workshop.

I also visited Chennai Dosa with the intention to take away some cooked stuff from there as well as have some south Indian delicacies. It disappointed me completely. The onion utappa that I ordered was undercooked from inside but crispy brown from the outside. I decided to just have it rather than argue over it as I had limited time at my disposal. When I tried to order a lamb biryani from there (Spicy Mint was a second option that I went to as I couldn't get the biryani at Chennai Dosa), they told me they did not have it at that point of time. 

In any case, to return to the main subject: it was a very good workshop and I met with quite a few interesting people, including some consultants from the hospital. Food at the workshop was quite basic with sandwiches, tea, coffee and orange juice. 

I returned to Blackpool by half past nine. A very exhausting day indeed. 

Birdsong for Beginners

I have introduced the subject to you, dear readers in my previous post.

I have always felt the need to understand how birds communicate with each other, and how this may help one as a birder to not just understand how they do so, but to also identify the bird from the way they call out in different situations. For a birder interested in learning more, knowing bird calls is as vital as knowing how to identify them visually. 

I had arrived early, and had already taken a few pictures of morning birds from the polygonal hide just inside the centre. One of the exciting things that happened while I was assembling my camera was a robin that flew to within a metre of me! It sat there, quietly waiting to see if I would offer it a crumb to eat. It was a very special moment for me. In fact, as I had a long lens, I had to step a few paces back to capture it before it fidgeted and flew away. 

The program was the second of four or five that the Leighton Moss RSPB Nature Reserve is conducting all through the spring and summer. Our guide this time was one Mr. Andy. We were six participants. We met in the Holt, the education room behind the visitor centre. Andy is a seasoned birder with a lot of experience in listening to birds. He took us down the path to the various wooded areas in the reserve where we stood and listened to birds. I am definite about a few bird calls after having listened to them repeatedly. These include the calls of the robin, the collared dove, the wood pigeon, the willow warbler, the Ceti warbler, the green woodpecker (it drums rather than calls) and a few others that I don't think I will remember: the reed warbler, the black cap, the red-shank, the  black bird and a few others.

I bought a 2-CD set from the shop, and will listen to the bird-calls over the next few months to try and memorise them. We even took a group photo at the end. Andy is right in the centre of the group.

After the program wound up,we all went to the cafe upstairs to partake of the snacks and coffee that was part of the fees we had paid for the program (£12 per RSPB member). I had a fried egg burger - they simply half-fried a couple of eggs and put them between the two halves of a burger bread) followed by a cafe latte. It was quite good, actually. Following this, the participants broke up. As my next train to Preston was over an hour away, I lingered on inside the visitor centre, browsing through books and other merchandise, trying out different binoculars (bins) and so on.

Finally, I left at half past twelve to catch a train from Silverdale station at 12:55. I arrived at Preston in a little less time than an hour, and caught the connecting train to Blackpool North, where I reached around three o'clock in the afternoon. I missed the bus to the hospital by a minute, and had to wait for over 30 minutes for the next one, so I went to the local Subway for a coffee. Eventually, I returned home by four p.m.

All in all, a very satisfying morning. Between the two days, I ended up spending over £110 for my experience.