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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Day 39, Saturday, 24th and Day 40, Sunday, 25th December, 2011

My first Christmas weekend away from home ... and the bigger tragedy is that what could have been a great weekend in India constitute the first two working days of the Saudi week! I started my on-call week from today; this means that I am more or less free to just sit around, doing nothing, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the hospital. It is only after the working day is over that I am on "duty" and can be called on to either help in the management of a sick child by telephone, or be asked to actually go to the hospital and see the patient in the ER.


Luckily for me, on Saturday, I had just a few phone calls and not a single call to go to the hospital to see a sick child. I spent the entire working day reading and surfing in a spare room while Dr. Yasser was busy seeing OPD patients. In the evening, I went for my usual evening walk, and stopped at the hospital on the way back to see if there were any pediatric patients to see; there weren't, and after chatting for some time with the residents on duty  (Drs. Magdi and Meassar), I returned home. Picked up a cucumber/potato peeler and a good kitchen knife. 


Also made Kheema today, and although the taste is all right, the mince did not unravel properly while cooking. I plan to eat the kheema with khichdi on Friday evening.


On Sunday, I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of Mr. Ali, the liaison officer who is supposed to deliver my Iqama. He did not turn up, however, and the iqama remains yet to arrive.


I also had an audience with the deputy mudeer of the hospital Mr. Ahmed Far through the agency of Dr. Shehab, where we put across a request for emergency funds for me. He gave a patient hearing to me, and later agreed to arrange for some money from his own funds. I am to meet him today (Sunday) after the Ishaa prayers. 


Before I sign off, let me wish all my readers a Merry Christmas.

1 comment:

Ravi Pandit said...

Taher,
In this lovely land that is Arabia, if nothing else, one learns the virtue of being patient. Everything is in the hands of the Gods - and one cannot argue about that.

Hope you had a good Christmas. I really feel for you being away from the family - it's not easy. Take care.