reflections

Work In pondicherry seems to have started and is picking up pace, Yesterday I met up with Ms Anu, a Palliative care Nurse for 8 years from Mahatma Gandhi institute and she gave me a list of people from other institutions to contact.

Mostly they were palliative care incharge of their institutions and belonged to the community medicine department.One is also a medical social worker works in Jipmer, there is also a contact number of a nursing superintendent and a nurse educator.I have written a mail to all of them and had a phone conversation each, whole of this week will be spent meeting them in person to make the first connect.

Two other progress that happened were training programme of the community of Auroville which will be three full day and include lot of reflective writing, group discussions, role plays as well as lectures.these are mostly therapists and laypeople/caregivers.I am excited about this as I am expecting them to be more flexible than the medical community, more acceptable of reflective work and sharing of experiences.

Other one being training of staff from neuro rehabilitation department of the same institution through a 3 hour workshop in empathy, breaking bad news, staff stress.The neurosurgeon Mr Natesan was an open minded and open hearted individual who was excited about the training for the staff.Beside him was an orthopedician Dr Om prakash who was digging to find the reason for my making this journey and offering these training pro bono.

He kept poking at me funnily before entering the room I had a sense of entering the Neurosurgery and CTVS department of my institute where the "jocks" that are surgeons hung out and this was the same.I see that I can crack jokes and defend myself better now, sometimes I can combine the two very well. Spontaneously I found that I was saying, "aap ortho se hai? Aah.. I should have understood with your need to break before mending" We of course exchanged numbers and he gave me the contacts of three more institutions in the northeast.

There was also Dr Sameera, a trans intensivist who was extremely warm and supportive.Since my coming paper on needs of LGBTQIA community regarding end of life care, she was a special contact.I also learnt that mahatma Gandhi institute is trans friendly and perform SRS, wednessday is the day they usually come.I will make a trip next wednesday.

I am still deciding what this blog should contain, who its audience are and what are the questions I want to answer.Also should I write about my thoughts in here?Will It start affecting my thinking ( restricting only to what is appropriate?)and isn't it too pompous to think that others will want to read about what happens in my mind and my daily life? Then comes the question, should I write it for myself only( Maybe, just maybe, there will be no people following it everyday anyway) If I write down my thoughts and reflection, this can serve as field notes.

Till I decide on this, you will have to bear with the mixed content of my journey.I will be interviewing interesting people I meet for sure and posting snippets and anecdotes from my workshops, apart from this a few articles about the concepts i learn new.Do let me know what you would like as well.