Golliwag

Today met up with my cousin’s cousin.  We grew up together and had a nice time.  Met her after quite a long while.   We remembered the summer vacations with cousins, simple delights like being taken to the park, being given ice creams, watching movies on video which made us very nostalgic.  Made me realize how precious relationships are.  It is so rare to find people whom you can share things with and be yourself.

 As you grow up, get married, and move away from your immediate circle of family, friends, and relations, you realize over the years how much you took people for granted, how much love and affection you had and at that time how little you valued them.

 Set me thinking.  In today’s fast paced world where relations are rapidly taking back seat, kids are more computer savvy, play stations and computers are the norm and they do not even get to experience extended families.  I wonder how it will affect them.  They wont have any fond memories of granny telling stories at bedtime and fighting with cousins for the previlege to sleep next to her every night, finding out delicacies made and hidden by her for fear that we will finish it all off in one day, taking turns are riding the rented bike, etc, etc.

But then maybe they will have other memories of their own to cherish.  How am I to know.  Maybe they would find all the above pretty boring and very uncool!  Only time will tell.

Today afternoon as I was sitting on my computer and transcribing medical reports, I just happened to look up out of the window and was struck by how beautiful it was.  There was brilliant sunshine, a light breeze, sun dappled leaves, palms swaying in the breeze, and then strains an old Hindi song, a favorite of my dad’s wafted in on the breeze.  I was so stuck by the beauty of the moment.  It was so quiet and peaceful.  I just wanted to sit back and gaze outside and savor the moment.  Reminded me of my childhood days spent in my grandma’s house in a small town called Trichur.

Afternoons were my favorite time of the day.  All adults would be napping.  We kids would settle down with books to read, or go stand in the balcony and watch the road empty and quite with mellow sunshine and breeze, or just play quietly, climb trees to pluck gooseberry, let the air out of neighboring bully’s cycle, generally have a nice time.  Good old days those.

I once heard a doctor saying osteoarthritis especially of the knee joints is the price man has to pay for defying gravity and walking upright.  Just goes to show you cannot gain something without losing out on something.

It seems reducing one’s body weight even by 5 kg can help quite a bit to alleviate symptoms of osteoarthritis as the knee joints support the entire weight of the body

I work as a medical transcriptionist.  It is funny the reactions I get when I tell people about it.  They give me a quizzical look and say “What is that?” I try explaining and am cut off with oh ok, yeah, alright and then when I meet them a few days later they seem more interested they start asking questions.   Sets me thinking.   So much of what we talk is so meaningless.  You just appear to listen, shake your heads, a few uh-huhs, maybe something registers somewhere. Later when you go about your business of daily living you come across something and then you read or see something which reminds you of it.   You have heard it somewhere before.  You try to remember and correlate.   After some mulling over it.   You get it. Oh yeah! This person was talking about it.

I have had some people (mostly moms) come back and ask very detailed questions about my profession with interest.  Then I realize okay they also want to get into it.  It is a good option in some ways you see.  You can be a stay at home mom and work and earn some money out of it.   But then some are so impatient.  They think they can just undergo training for a month and start working from home. I have to disappoint them telling them it takes longer than that, a year maybe.  You can see the disappointment on their faces. 

Some are game though.  It is not that easy but at least some hope.  It feels nice to see them as they go through the paces and gain confidence in their abilities.  They graduate from “Oh can I do that?” to “well that wasn’t so bad” and then you can see their confidence in their abilities rekindling. 

Funny how medical transcription training helps a lot of women at home, wanting to work, and give time to family but not sure how to do all that.  You see the transformation from “Oh! I have been at home for so many years what can I possibly do” to “Okay! I can do something too.”  It feels nice. Then there are a few who say “Oh transcription!” BPO!! more like a glorified typist! Not much application of mental faculties!!  Oh well!!! What can I say? That is life for you.

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!