UK Life - Two years on, part 2

In my last post, I wrote about my progress in this country, the United Kingdom, since I moved here to work, which was on or around the 16th of November in 2015. That post was about my professional progress, my personal stuff and so on. 

In this post, I am going to mention my social advancement. I have made hundreds of new acquaintances; many of these have slowly grown into friendships, although I do admit that very few have led to household-friendliness. I have had my friends bring me or send me Christmas and festival cards, buy me a cup of coffee, help me do stuff I find difficulties doing, and sending me glowing testimonials about my work. I have been invited only once by a parent of a child I treated - but I did not go as I wasn't free that afternoon. I made an acquaintance with a patient's grandfather that led to membership in a local Indian cultural group that I am proud to be a part of. I made a lot of birding friends, but lack of time has led many of those friends to fall by the wayside. The one person I am still friends with - and whom I do meet from time to time - is very dear to me as he took me on a lovely birding trip to a local area. 

Among doctors, I must mention some of my doctor colleagues whom I really treasure the friendship with. They include many who were only in Blackpool for a short while of about 4-6 months as they did a stint here before moving to do posts elsewhere. I should also include several doctors I met and still meet when I do locum jobs in other trusts. There are agency workers with whom I have a very good relationship. They are my friends on social media and we do wish each other on our significant days. 

My well-wishers and admirers include domestic staff, nurses, doctors, dieticians, ward assistants, administrative staff and patient parents in the hospital. Outside the hospital, I have similar people at places I frequent, including coffee shops, restaurants, hobby shops, retail stores and so on. There are at least 3 workers at the Blackpool North railway station who always nod/doff their hats/ acknowledge me; one of them trusts me completely and waives his right to even check my ticket on my way to boarding the train.

I have to say this: people from India think the British are tight-lipped and do not freely interact with others. My experience in this regard has been totally uplifting. I do think though that there are certain boundaries we should never cross. The Brits are very open-hearted if you stay within those bounds. For example, there is a polite way to hug that would be completely wrong in India, but very acceptable in the U.K. You could end up hugging someone within minutes of meeting them - and it would still be socially acceptable. A mother of a sick child once spontaneously rose off her chair and hugged me with gratitude at a hospital I had gone to do a one-off duty in - in almost total darkness at 02:00 a.m. when I went in to review her child! Only today, I was with my consultant, when a female colleague I had worked with a year ago came to visit the Paediatric ward for something else - and she came over to us and gave me a friendly hug in front of my consultant. 

To be honest, as a married male, I am not allowed to do the same to a woman - and this can be quite unnerving and unsettling - as I was warned by my educational supervisor on one occasion when I reached out to go close to a co-worker of the opposite sex. This is where I have occasionally foundered and worried, but things are improving as I am getting used to the culture of this country. 

As I cook my own food and take it to the hospital every day, I have found many admirers who marvel at the smell of the food I open at lunchtime and heat in the microwave. I was pleasantly surprised when I met a GP for the first time at a social function - tells me he has heard about my culinary skills! When I asked him how he had known about this, he told me one of his GP trainees who had once worked with me in the hospital had told him about this! 

There is so much to talk about but I will end this post for now. If you know me in the U.K. and are reading this and know I am talking about you, do smile. Readers, please comment. Thanks. 

Living it up_ Birthday # 57 ... been there, done that.

Yet another milestone crossed. Older by a year, younger by a hair's breadth. Life lived one more year. One more month. One more week. One more day. And now, I am officially 57. It doesn't seem like it, though. If asked how old I am, I would say I like to think I am 16 - give or take 41.

The day yesterday began like a damp squib. I reached my ward at half past eight (as usual), attended the handover, and went to the post-natal ward to do my duty for the next eight-odd hours. In between, I was called to attend two or three deliveries. In the afternoon, I went for lunch and a teaching session in the teaching room below our ward. Lunch was sponsored by Abbott Nutrition, while the teaching was done by Alison Simmonett, one of the consultants who works in our department. Her case presentation and discussion were instructive and stimulated the desire to learn more. Food was a combination of a sandwich/baguette, fruit, fruit juice and some cupcakes. I reached for a Caesar Chicken roll, and it was quite nice.

In the afternoon, work at the post-natal ward continued until four p.m. Then I returned to the paediatric ward to await the evening handover. And at about half past four, I finished for the day. I invited a few of my colleagues to join me for dinner as it was my birthday, but no one was really receptive as they had other commitments. Story of my life, I thought. Everyone loves me for my humility, my knowledge and my affability, but no one forgets that I am at an age they are not comfortable to have an enjoyable evening with.


So, off I went to Costa. Sipping a special Caramel Cortado (that they have only introduced a few days ago), I felt content in some ways and missed merry-making with my family or close friends - which I would have done had I been in Mumbai.

I usually have an extra-hot coffee with a bit more milk than usual, and the baristas know that so well that they serve me my Cortado just the way I like it. This time, the difference was in the caramel granules they put at the bottom of the cup, a shot of caramel that they dissolved in the coffee, and the gentle sprinkle of even more caramel granules that they added over the top. I was digging into the new combination with pleasure. It was an hour or so before I wounded up my stay in Costa. By then, I had spoken to my daughters, my wife, a few other friends, and also played my cell phone games and so on. It was time to return to my rooms. My plan was to go out for dinner later in the evening. It would be a dinner all by myself, but I would make it count.

But destiny had other plans for me. I got into a conversation with Luckey. She told me she was going to go out for drinks with some English friends of hers, but then offered to have me go with them.  नेकी और पूछ पूछ ? I agreed immediately. And thus, I went to Ma Kelly's North at Talbot Street for a night out with Luckey and her friends.

The friends were her school friend Roberto (Robs) and his friend Lidya. Both of them stay around London and were vacationing with Robs' parents who stay in Blackpool. I arrived first, and went past the intimidating bouncer, who allowed me in and even opened the door for me. Inside, a live stage show was on with a guitar-playing male singer belting out oldies such as "The Summer of 69". Luckey and her friends joined me after almost 20 minutes of waiting. After the introductions, we went straight to the bar, where I ordered a Jack Daniels with soda and ice.

I had no clue there would be no dinner. I ended up having 2 packs of roasted peanuts as I whiled the evening away with a drink or two, a lot of dancing and some great friendship parleys with Luckey's friends as well as a few new ones - one of whom was a mum of one of the kids who our department treats at the hospital.

After the partying, I went to drop Luckey, and then returned home in a cab. It had started off badly, but when the day ended, I was aglow with happiness. I did have fun, and I did make some new acquaintances.

Over 5000 views, and some news on what is happening here in the UK

At the time of writing, I have actually had over 5500 views on my four and a half-month-old blog. This is extremely heart-warming and I thank all my readers sincerely. I am aware that many of you are, in fact, following my writing since a long time - and some of you are likely to remain one of my regular readers, come what may. To all the new readers here, a big WELCOME. 

I have been struggling with the new kind of work in the UK. Having worked in Mumbai as a Paediatric consultant for over 2 decades, I left my practice to work as a Paediatrician in Saudi Arabia from November 2011 until September 2015. During those four years, I garnered a lot of support and encouragement from many of my friends and acquaintances as I set about gathering a new qualification: the Membership of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. I succeeded in my endeavour and was able to get my MRCPCH certificate during the first quarter of 2015.

One thing led to another. Eventually, exactly 4 years after I had left India to go to Saudi Arabia - viz. on the 16th of November 2015, I began a new chapter in my professional life by arriving in the U.K. to be part of the Paediatric team at the Blackpool Victoria Hospital in Blackpool.

It has now been over 4 1/2 months since I arrived here. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge. I have had my dark moments and my highs. What has kept me going is my continued enthusiasm to balance my work with enjoying life. Initially, I used to take my work lightly. Soon enough, I began to be censured by the higher-ups, who felt, and I would agree they were right, that I would need to be seen as much more serious about my responsibilities if I were to make anything out of my present job. I did exactly that, and today, I am happy to say, that I have travelled much more of the distance than where I was in mid-February 2016. Luckily, I even made time to go to India and met my family and relatives in what turned out to be my best 10 days of the last six months.

During December and January, I had already begun to travel short distances to see England. A visit to the Peak District and a walk down the Monsal Trail was a highlight of that time. In February and March, I continued my internal travels, visiting Manchester, and then, Liverpool city. Towards the latter half of March, I began to go on serious birding and photography trips, initially by myself, and later, in the company of an English birding and photography enthusiast, Mr Martin Lever. We went together to Stanley Park, and even the Rossall point to the north of where I live. The previous few weeks saw me make solo trips to the Lake District (Lake Windermere area) and to the RSPB Leighton Local Nature Reserve.  I saw many different birds,a few animals and a whole lot of naturally beautiful spots of the landscape.

In summary, it has been a mixed journey, but always with some positive outcomes. I am grateful for having got the opportunity to work in the NHS. I have not only learned so much, I have also made so many new friends, earned a modicum of respect from my colleagues, and had so much fun on weekends. 

What do you think?

To view my photos, visit me on Facebook, go to the "Photos" link and explore my albums; alternatively, browse this blog. Thank you.

India Visit Days 7 and 8 - Quiet days

On the 4th and the 5th of March, I was busy sorting out affairs at home and related to my own issues in India, including visiting relevant people like my C.A. etc. I also had the opportunity to meet or talk on the phone with many more people whom I have lost regular touch with. I had a chance to meet some of my own GS class-mates over tea and snacks at a restaurant in Opera House area, Mumbai. The friends who came to meet me were few in number, but they more than made up for it in apportioning a lot of their busy time to chat with me and share their ideas. They included Drs. Dhaval Gandhi (a plastic surgeon), Suhas Parikh (a cardiac surgeon) and Raghunath Phatak (a diabetologist). Dr. Phatak is also my own diabetic doctor. The four of us met at Vihar Coffee House and had a very good time! We had some chinese vegetable starters and a medley of dosas over tea or coffee. It was high quality time indeed and I returned from this meeting with very good memories. Here, I share a few photos of this meeting.

Drs Dhaval, Raghunath and Suhas from left to right with me

I also had the chance to meet with an old friend of mine, also my classmate, but also close to me because we hail from the same native place in Gujarat. This was Dr. Shailesh Joshi, who is now a successful Orthopaedic surgeon in Bhandup and other central suburban areas of Mumbai. We met at his house in Bhandup, where he had invited me. Here are a few photos of this meeting:

And that, my dear reader, brings me to the end of this entry. Thank you for reading. I would much appreciate your comments.

One more week down the line

I have now completed three months in the UK. The last week has been staid, but the work has always been challenging. The real pressure was during my taking of the Newborn Life Support (NLS) course on the 12th of the month. This is a full-day training-cum-assessment course that prepares the health worker to know how to resuscitate (= revive) a newborn baby after birth or soon thereafter (but within 1 month of birth) when they fail to breathe on their own. 

The course format was teach, teach, teach, then interact, interact, interact, and finally, sit for an assessment that included answering 50 multiple-choice questions in a paper, followed by practical demonstration of the skills learned by the candidate before one or more of the faculty members, who sat in as examiners to evaluate the candidate. The teach part consisted of didactic lectures where the faculty went through power-point presentations, teaching us the knowledge of how newborn resuscitation works. The interaction involved creation of scenarios where the faculty taught us how to do the resuscitation on different cases, followed by simulations, where the candidate learned how to do it hands-on. Finally, we had assessment, which we needed to pass in order to get a certificate of the NLS course. 

During the course, I met several doctors and nurses who were not only from our hospital (where the course was conducted), but from different parts of the region of NW England. Knowing them was the cherry on the pie. It was interesting to meet the faculty as well. One of our local consultants was the director of the entire course (Dr. Kate Goldberg). Our Advanced Neonatal Nurse Practitioner ANNP Liz Morrison was a faculty member too, as was another one of our Neonatal nurses. We had tea breaks, a lunch break and a lot of fun in between. All in all, it was a fantastically conducted course. I am happy to report that I cleared it. 

In other news, life for me goes on. My duty begins with my arrival in the handover at half past eight. It culminates in the evening handover, usually between half past four and five. However, I try and stay past this time to work and get more experience under my belt. Making friends is the pleasant side-effect of working here. I must mention that I miss the doctors who left for other posts at the end of January. In particular, I would miss the following names - 

a) Dr. Elisabeta Ene (Letty): She is a Romanian doctor training here since the past several years. A very nice person, Letty and I vibed well with each other. She has moved to a neonatology post at Burnley.
b) Dr. Ahsan Ul Haq: This very skilled Pakistan-origin doctor has been in the UK for over 12 years, and he has moved on to his new post in Burnley as well.
c) Dr. Michael Sharrat: He is a very knowledgeable and skilled second year Paediatric resident who taught me many things. 
d) Dr. Selma Mohammed: She is a very capable Sudanese doctor who has also moved on to her next post at Burnley - which makes her the third middle-grade doctor to move on to Burnley. 

Two other middle-grades continue to work here at Blackpool, viz. Dr. Yogesh Kuba (a fellow Indian), who is now a permanent staff member here, and Dr. Evelyn Chia (A Malaysian Chinese), who will move on after 6 months. 

From the foregoing, it is clear that we have a mixed-origin work force in our hospital. This makes working here a fun experience. 

That is about it for today. I hope you enjoyed reading this post. 

P.S. I believe in sharing my experience with health professionals who are interested in taking the same steps I have taken over the last five years. Hence, if you wish to have help in moving to the Saudi Arabian health service or the UK one, do not hesitate to write to me. 

Arrival in the UK

The preparations to come to this country took well over 2 months. First, I had to complete my medical council registration; then, the UK visa; and finally, do shopping and accumulate stuff that one should compulsorily have with them when they wish to immigrate to the UK - but especially important stuff like utensils, a pressure cooker, clothes to ward off the cold and wet climate with, money to carry along, and a host of other stuff. 

During the past few months, I also hosted a few get-togethers; the first one was with my Nagpada friends, Drs. Muhbeen, Arif Shaikh and Ashfaq; at this get-together, which I had in the month of September, we had Raan Biryani, the favourite dish of Persian Durbar- the place we ate at. The next one was a family get-together with Murtuza's family. This was hosted by Murtuza, and was also at Persian Durbar, with all of us again having the same main dish that my friends and I had gorged on previously. 

The final big get-together was the one we organised about 3 days before my departure from India. At this meet, we invited the entire families of my dear friends - the Jolly club members, my own family and my wife's closest family members - a brother's family and a cousin sister's family (Pappu being the brother and her cousin Lovely being the sister). This get-together was organised by us at the Kolsa Mohalla jamatkhana. Will post pictures of this one day in this blog.

On the 14th morning, I finally caught a flight from Terminal 2 of the Mumbai Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport (Gate 73, Turkish Airlines) to Manchester. My flight took off at 6.50 a.m. IST. I had a layoff for about 2 1/2 hours at the airport in Istanbul, which I reached after a journey of 7 hours and where I changed planes to continue my onward journey to Manchester. This second leg of my journey took over 4.5 hours. Thus, my entire journey took over 14 hours, and I arrived in Manchester at around 3.30 p.m. GMT.

En route, Turkish Airlines served great food; during the first flight, they served a Turkish meal consisting of cheesy salted items, spinach and smoked salmon with sides of salad and a strawbetty yogurt, On the second leg, they served snacks, which were equally delicious. All in all, the flights were good. Istanbul airport is a very, very busy airport. They have so many departure gates! Mine was gate 304! The population at the airport was completely cosmopolitan. My first flight was running full. The second was nearly full, too.

On arriving at Manchester, the immigration formalities and retrieval of luggage took over an hour, I got a local train from Manchester Airport to Poulton le Fylde. My bags were really heavy and I had a tough time transferring them from the airport to the rail station, and from the station on to the train itself. However, I got an empty train and got settled in into the second compartment from the rear. Disaster struck when the announcer said that only the first three compartments of the train would travel to Blackpool, while the rear 3 were slated to be disconnected and would be going to another place - with a new locomotive engine. I managed to disembark at Preston, and boarded the front compartments with some difficulty. I reached Poulton at 6.30 p.m. Took a cab from there and arrived at Blackpool Victoria Hospital around 7:00 p.m. 

That's all for now. More in my next post.