Autobiographical musings

(This post has some overlap with the My autobiography post, and has some added details.) Internship Before taking up a job as a doctor, we had to finish one year compulsory rotating Internship. We get our degrees only after that. Then, to get Registration, one year senior house-surgeoncy with six months in Surgery and surgical specialities, which included Anaesthesia and ENT, and six months in Medical and medical specialities, which included Paediatrics and Dermatology. By this time Chechi and family came to Trivandrum on transfer. So I started staying with them, for home-cooked food. I began by staying in the House Surgeons' quarters near the pay wards, above the then Casualty block. No food was served there, so we would get parcels from hotels - one Viswanathan brought food for Krishna Shenoy and me, only in the evenings. Lunch was in the canteen. I used to frequent Chechi's house, mainly for food to start with, and later for stay also. Chechi was staying near the Ayurveda h...

MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY - continued from the earlier post ... At the UK for FRCS   I had to go back to Kannur to sell my car, which fortunately was bought by the son-in-law of Dr Jamaluddin. That night I stayed in the RMO's quarters with Dr Gopala Menon and his wife Dr Sethulaxmi Menon who have a lovely daughter Priya. I had a few friends in Kannur - Dr Abdul Khader (surgeon), Dr Ramachandran (ENT), Dr PMK Nambiar (physician), Dr Gopi Kurup and Mrs Gouri Kurup (Gynaec), and a few others. I bid farewell to all of them.  First leg of journey to UK was to Bombay first. Then, on to Ahmedabad where I stayed to bid farewell to my little fairy Anju and Rema. Then I went back to Bombay to really leave India for the UK on 1st May 1973 by Air India. The flight had stops in Frankfurt and Paris. Frankfurt airport was a big place, like a city in itself, with elevators all over, a really nice place to see and wonder at. When I arrived at Heathrow, Murali (Chowara) had come to receive me along wit...

This is about me - Nandakumaran.  Young days An attempt at writing an autobiography!! I was born in 1937 (ME 1113 Kanni masam Sept 20th Pooroorutathi nakshathram) three years after my father's retirement as Devaswam Commissioner in 1934. Chechi was born in that year. They wanted another girl but were disappointed. Anyway - I was one among many and got care as anyone else. I grew up mostly in my Chechi's company because there was no one else. Since there were seven men as my elder siblings, I was an easy target for all of them to run errands - especially Balachettan to buy snuff powder. I remember how we, being children, used to get Vishukkettam from distant cousins and uncles and Ramuttyettan especially used to collect that money from us! Vishukkettam amount was 4 or 8 annas and very rarely Re 1.  Onam and Vishu were true festivals in those days as that whole week was enjoyment. Even when I had nothing to play and no company I would be loitering in our house compound among tre...

Chechi was very close to me, even from childhood. We played together and she always bossed over me. We seldom quarrelled, and that too, only momentarily. I remember Amma taking us for bathing together to our pond and we used to play by sliding on our oiled bodies. The pond was rebuilt and rebored by father. It had water throughout the year and was nice to swim in, especially in the rainy season. Parathy amma taught us swimming by guiding us using a long cloth.  Chechi was 3 years senior to me in class also. We both studied in Vivekodayam School and later in Sree Kerala Varma College. I studied there only for intermediate while she finished her BA (Economics). She was a great singer and received laurels from College. A bhagavathar taught her classical music - after her marriage too. So both my sisters were musicians. I too had a taste for music, but only for listening to it. When Ramdas was born to Chechi, in 1955, I had just joined Medical college. Appuchettan's Devi was also born...

Immediately after joining Badagara, I used to travel by taxi as I didn't own a car. I got a 4 door Standard Herald car later. We wanted to make a trip to Trivandrum, Cape Comorin etc. along with Dr MK Prabhakaran and Dr V Jairaj our colleagues there. We hired an Amassador car - the driver was good. I forgot where we stayed in Trivandrum - probably with Appuchttan. We went straight to Cape Comorin and on the way touched Padmanabhapuram palace (still keeping the antiquity), Nagarkovil and wonderful pillars ringing SAPTHA SWARANGAL (7 musical notes) in a temple there. In Cape Comorin, we spent time in the beach mostly. Rema was a bit off-mood since I spent most time with friends and not her. Returned by night, and the next day returned, on the way touched our house in Thrissur. The whole trip was only 4 days. We never made a similar trip again except when we went to Calcutta to take a new Ambassador from the company itself. We took Mohan along for that trip - went by train and drove...

I had worked in Thalasseri General hospital also for a few months just before going to Kannur. It was an in-between posting - an adjustment posting by the Government. Dr Mathai was there - lots of complaints against him from the public and so he became a victim. No one liked to work in Thalasseri where there was a lot of political interference, especially from CPM. One person was the usual complainant, who regularly used to take rounds in the hospital. He was responsible in throwing a petrol bomb at a minister - Mohammed Koya if I remember correctly.  We had a good selection of doctors there. For the first two months, I was shuttling between Thalasseri and Kannur Chovva in my 4 door Herald. On one occasion, immediately after car servicin,g I was going to Thalasseri and just escaped from an accident when my car went under a lorry - I was going behind it and it suddenly stopped. There was no major injury to me or to the car, except for a line on the bonnet. Soon after that, I got tr...

A few things I forgot to write down in earlier posts  https://autobiographicalmusings.blogspot.com/2021/08/first-job-ms-calicut-vatakara-and-kannur.html https://autobiographicalmusings.blogspot.com/2021/06/my-autobiography.html While at Vadakara in 1969, one incident was my getting viral hepatitis. It became quite serious. I was out of work for about 3 weeks and a false news spread that I died in Medical college. Actually another doctor with a similar name had died at the Medical college. So my fate was to live (at least) till 84 as I write this! I did not face any problems in its aftermath, after the hepatitis abated. The next year, I contracted chicken pox. One day, while washing in OT, I noted some irritation in my body and hands. When I went home, I found multiple small vesicles over the abdomen. The next day, both my forearms had thick heavy vesicles. Over a few days the whole body was affected - the most painful parts were the anal region, prepuce, palms and soles of the...

Apart from Linux, my main passion was Surgery from 1965 to 2015, when I retired. I used to enjoy doing surgery even without timely food. After I became an experienced surgeon, my popularity increased. When we would return after a trip, as we approached the Hospital where I worked for nearly 40 years, there used to be a big crowd waiting at the gate for me. The local people and the hospital staff loved me. From the beginning, my principle was never to go after money. If you are good, money will automatically come to you. We used to have frequent transfers in government service. So, it was difficult to settle down in one place or house. At last I resigned, and did a lot of freelance surgery in many places: Quilandy, Balusseri, Vadakara, Perambra. I used to take an anaesthetist also along (Dr Krishnadas, Dr Alfred - both no more now) and we had lots of adventures on the way, like heavy rain, no petrol in tank etc. The driver of the taxi himself had to go, bring petrol in a can, and procee...

I am my mother's 14th child. She lost 5 daughters in her prime age and wanted girls. Her prayers yielded Kamakshi chechi. Going to Rameswaram, they again prayed for another girl. God made me and gave them and the priest blessed them to have a SALputhran (good son), it seems. True to their word, I could look after my mother till she left at 92. I felt a big void after she left, in spite having been with her for long .Everyone feels the same when they lose their mother. I lost my father in 1950 when I was in the seventh standard. The headmaster gave me permission to write one exam on the pindam day (12th day ceremony) in his office. Father had some depression due to money loss and was feeling guilty for not saving much for the children, especially the last two, Chechi and me. Father was a mild Diabetic too (no proper tests then - they used Fehling's solution to test sugar??). Treatment was based on clinical signs and doctors' guesses. Achan was under Dr Vaidyanatha Iyer, one ...

Kannur I have lots to write about my wife and children. After our marriage, we had no children for seven years; partly our fault, because Rema wanted to go for PG (D.O) and so went to Madurai for the course and then after that, hunting for a job in various Government hospitals. Just to get postings together we had to go and see the minister, and that too in the unearthly hours - 1-2 AM. That minister was decent enough to keep up his word and we got posting together. That Minister was Wellington. Later on, we came to know that he was a Sai devotee and he was with us when the Kerala Trust members went for darsan and interview ( in the 1990s ). And then suddenly, Rema was with child. We were doubtful and visited 2-3 doctors to confirm. So, we were happy. Rema took leave for maternity care and never joined back. We were in Kannur then and staying in a rented house called Happynook near the Army Cantonment area. I was the third surgical unit chief then. Oh My God! The amount of surgery I h...