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.