Old age and behaviour

My father, who is 73 years and six months old, has gradually changed from being what he was to being an irritable, uncouth, and ill-mannered person. How this change in personality came about is something of an enigma to me, as it is to my mother, my two younger brothers, my wife and the wives of both my brothers. My daughters are just as bewildered as the children of my younger brothers.

My mom has become so exasperated that she starts crying the moment one of us (all three of us feel more or less the same way about our dad) begins to argue or talk some sense into the old man. She fears that one or all of us will stop talking to dad, and then we will all stop visiting them completely.

I will write more later. Do keep checking this blog. Thanks.

Clinic Inauguration (III): The actual event

I reached the clinic premises at about half past nine in the morning. My assistants came around the same time. A maid had come earlier than us and was just finishing up with the sweeping and mopping activities. I invited her to return later on as a guest, then the three of us became busy setting up the place for the "opening ceremony". My parents were to "break the coconut (father) and cut the ribbon (mother). They arrived well in time for the auspicious time of 9.52 a.m. Here are a couple of pictures of them doing the honours:

First, dad breaks a coconut ... then, mom is cutting a red ribbon, thus "opening" the clinic.





This was then followed by the arrival of my teacher and Guru, Dr. N.B.Kumta, an eminent Pediatrician from Malad, a Mumbai suburb. He had been kind enough to help me with the editing of my parenting book a few years ago. As a token of my appreciation for him, I presented him with a copy of the book. Here are a few pictures of him:


Over the rest of the day, several other guests came. It is impossible to show pictures of everyone who came, but friends, relatives, other doctors, other associates, neighbours of my home and my shop, people from the old clinic building at Nagpada, and finally, a few of my internet friends too turned up. Below are some of the pictures of these unforgettable moments. Shown are my mama (maternal uncle), a net friend Hiroo Pardasani with his wife, a net friend Tanishq, with her family, some important doctors, such as Dr. Shrin Shikari and her family, Dr. Rajendra and Sheela Verma and her son, Drs. Joshi and Barsiwala, Drs. Farooqs, some relatives, such as my uncle Idris with his family, and a few others.



As you can see, the event was a success, with over 300 guests gracing the occasion. We served kesar-pista icecream, and the guests enjoyed it. Gifts and bouquets literally rained upon us! It was a colour riot, with tens of large, medium and small bouquets, covering every available surface on the premises. Added to this were the other gifts, both in cash and in kind. There were vases, table-top decorative stuff, items useful to a pediatrician, hospitality stuff like crockery, religious photo-frames and other icons, stationery, chocolates and even something odd like a shirt for me!

I thank all of those who attended my inauguration function and all those whose prayers and blessings were, are, and will be with me and my family. To all others who read this post and my blog, please note that this is a very special event in my professional life, so I request you not to try and mock it or belittle its importance.

Thank you for reading it all.

To view the entire collection of photos, please click here.

Inauguration of the clinic (II) - The run-up to the opening

The actual inauguration was held on Sunday the 21st of October, 2007. To be honest, we had to rush through the last three or four days' work of renovation to meet the deadline for the opening. I tried to send out phone invites and also invitation cards to as many relatives, friends, doctor-associates, other colleagues and contacts, as possible. In the end, this effort involved cooperation from my children, my wife, a few of my close friends, my employees, the internet (since many of the invites went by email), the phone service (which, gratefully, did not let me down most of the time, though the landlines were more reliable than the mobiles), the postal service (since over 75 invites went by post - this one was a dampener, as later on, I learned that at least 14-15 invitees got their invitations after the event was over!) ... and some others too.

On the penultimate day, I sat down to run through the list of all the things that had to be done/were done:

-sending out invitations and following those that were sent by post with a phone call wherever possible
-checking and cross-checking the invites to see that I didn't miss anyone or to confirm that the phones had indeed been made
-calling up the people who were going to erect a "pandal" (a sort of shaded verandah on the sidewalk outside my clinic) and tell them to erect it that very night
-confirming with the icecream supplier the order for 500 ice-creams
-running after the carpenter, plumber, painter, varnisher, electrician, glass-vendor, mason, etc. and seeing to the completion of their final work in time for the opening
-installing a fish tank (the vendor also brought water in two large plastic bags from his home and filled the tank! He brought the fish on Sunday morning at nine o'clock and made the tank complete!)
-seeing to it that the florist keeps the floral festoon ready to apply it to the front of the main board the next morning
-seeing to it that the board maker fixes the main board and the side board outside the clinic's main door

... plus a zillion other tasks!

In the event, is it a surprise that a few people did get left out, a few tasks did remain incomplete and a few mistakes did occur? :-)

Here are a few pictures of the clinic on Sunday morning, before the guests began to arrive: