So much has happened in my life in the last three months, that I am overwhelmed by some of what I have myself engineered, and some that Allah has chosen to apportion to me. As I had mentioned in my last post, I was selected to go to Saudi Arabia to work as a specialist Pediatrician way back in April 2011. Somehow or the other, the status of my selection did not change over nearly 7 months. It was only around mid-October that my appointment formalities were completed from the agent's end, and I was given a tentative 2-3 weeks to wind up my Mumbai affairs so that I could fly out by the first week of November. I requested the agent to give me some more time, and finally, he arranged for the ticket on 16th November.
Between 18th October and 16th November, I had to run from one place to another, sometimes to make new connections with others (e.g. opening an N.R.I. account) or to break existing relationships (e.g. resigning from all the hospitals, or calling up patients and informing them about my planned departure after a month). I also arranged for Dr. A.Basit Bhoira to visit my clinic in the mornings (he is a recent pediatrician attached to Saboo Siddiq and Dholkawala Hospitals) and Dr. Lakshmi (a new pediatrician who visits Masina) to see patients in the evenings.
I bought two lap-tops, one for myself and the other for the family to keep at home. Also, I had to arrange nearly 60K to pay the agent, and as my ticket was from New Delhi, I had to arrange for my travel to New Delhi. Also, I urged my entire family to accompany me to Delhi and to see me off at the airport. Hence, an additional expenditure of Rs. 50K came into the picture (flight tickets for all 4 of us to Delhi and for the three of them (my wife and daughters) back to Mumbai, plus 1 night's stay in New Delhi (2 doubles)). Thus, all in all, I spent nearly 1.8 lakhs before the planned departure. I did not have to buy any new pieces of luggage or clothes or any thing else. That was a blessing, since we had already spent so much money!
My farewells to the entire family on my father's side as well as both families on my mothers' side took the form of either meeting them all on a social occasion, or individual visits to Sakinafaiji in Pune and Zehrafaiji at Marol. In addition, I met Moizmama, and called up as many others as possible, including friends, doctors etc.
My mother was quite apprehensive about my going to a foreign land and tried to dissuade me whenever possible. However, I convinced her that everything would turn out fine. Eventually, she compromised with me and asked me to keep in touch with dad and her from time to time. Of course, I said, and that was that.
The other resistance had come from Nishrin, who was worried that she would not be able to manage the affairs and both my daughters single-handedly. I told her that the main purpose of my going was to earn some extra money and to provide an opportunity for her (and the kids) and me to live apart from each other and thus gain a measure of emotional, financial and social independence. A sort of "training", one might say, for us to live without each other should Allah snatch one of us away from the other during future life. (This last reason I did not vocalise openly, but you can see the wisdom behind it. So many husbands do not "independentise" their spouses, and this leads to immense difficulties for their spouses in the event of death or disability of the husband.)
For those who want to read a day-by-day account of the stay in Saudi, I recommend that you visit and read my other blog on this very topic. I make entries daily and I am sure some of the entries will interest you immensely. To visit this blog, click here.
Between 18th October and 16th November, I had to run from one place to another, sometimes to make new connections with others (e.g. opening an N.R.I. account) or to break existing relationships (e.g. resigning from all the hospitals, or calling up patients and informing them about my planned departure after a month). I also arranged for Dr. A.Basit Bhoira to visit my clinic in the mornings (he is a recent pediatrician attached to Saboo Siddiq and Dholkawala Hospitals) and Dr. Lakshmi (a new pediatrician who visits Masina) to see patients in the evenings.
I bought two lap-tops, one for myself and the other for the family to keep at home. Also, I had to arrange nearly 60K to pay the agent, and as my ticket was from New Delhi, I had to arrange for my travel to New Delhi. Also, I urged my entire family to accompany me to Delhi and to see me off at the airport. Hence, an additional expenditure of Rs. 50K came into the picture (flight tickets for all 4 of us to Delhi and for the three of them (my wife and daughters) back to Mumbai, plus 1 night's stay in New Delhi (2 doubles)). Thus, all in all, I spent nearly 1.8 lakhs before the planned departure. I did not have to buy any new pieces of luggage or clothes or any thing else. That was a blessing, since we had already spent so much money!
My farewells to the entire family on my father's side as well as both families on my mothers' side took the form of either meeting them all on a social occasion, or individual visits to Sakinafaiji in Pune and Zehrafaiji at Marol. In addition, I met Moizmama, and called up as many others as possible, including friends, doctors etc.
My mother was quite apprehensive about my going to a foreign land and tried to dissuade me whenever possible. However, I convinced her that everything would turn out fine. Eventually, she compromised with me and asked me to keep in touch with dad and her from time to time. Of course, I said, and that was that.
The other resistance had come from Nishrin, who was worried that she would not be able to manage the affairs and both my daughters single-handedly. I told her that the main purpose of my going was to earn some extra money and to provide an opportunity for her (and the kids) and me to live apart from each other and thus gain a measure of emotional, financial and social independence. A sort of "training", one might say, for us to live without each other should Allah snatch one of us away from the other during future life. (This last reason I did not vocalise openly, but you can see the wisdom behind it. So many husbands do not "independentise" their spouses, and this leads to immense difficulties for their spouses in the event of death or disability of the husband.)
For those who want to read a day-by-day account of the stay in Saudi, I recommend that you visit and read my other blog on this very topic. I make entries daily and I am sure some of the entries will interest you immensely. To visit this blog, click here.
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