#worldphotographyday
Standing on the stage and with my little phone taking a photo of the hundreds of patients who have assembled for a Support Group Meeting - trying to capture their energy their joy the courage writ large in their faces . That my patients allow me to do this..
Take their photos , pose so happily , for selfies & more I owe them big time & not to mention the immense pleasure of being able to take photos so easily today. I grew up in an era when photos were precious . To own a camera was unthinkable. To get photographed was something else
Today capturing moments of beauty & sharing those with others is so easy & has brought so much joy in my life. So much respect for those who have for years before us ( in this era of instant gratification) wielded their precious cameras and given us not only joy but educated us
It was two days after our son's wedding which took place in a lovely little inn just outside Montreal. We were walking down Old Montreal's famed tourist spot on this lovely late summer afternoon It was almost to the day 22 yrs ago 20/08/ 2000 .
The square was full of people.,,
having fun beer & ice cream & flowers & live music & artists sketching away .
On some whim I decided I was going to get a portrait done .
20$ he said . Fine said I even though it was almost a fortune out of my pin money saved for little luxuries on that trip . He was Korean …
and his name was Park and he had a limp and a crutch by his side And also by his side the sweetest little girl with the reddest cheeks and brightest smile ever ! She won my heart - frolicking around all the while her father sketched.
C'est Viji
a Montreal
Canada 2000- 8- 20
Landscape of Hate is an improvised multimedia project with the objective of promoting & favouring the public voice in framing pluralistic dialogues about how we negotiate various forms of hate in our society.
Events typically consist of a combination of panel discussions, debates
art expositions & performances. Landscape of Hate performances include a combination of original compositions of electronic music, audio samples, social media feeds, soundscapes and video projections. The lyrical materials are derived from data collected from the Internet,
research interviews & other public sources. Each performance is unique. Landscape of Hate has been created as part of the Grimposium festival and conference series & the SOMEONE initiative. The project is funded by grants to Vivek Venkatesh’s multi-disciplinary research team
Why @chaiforcancer
2016
It was with a heavy heart the team had to close his case . We hadn't heard from him in many months . Maybe well over a year even . Despite repeated calls & attempts to counsel and emphasise the importance of compliance we had not seen him nor been able to
make any contact . He was a farmer from the interiors of Maharashtra & his life had been a constant struggle . A small holding where he grew vegetables , struggled with the vagaries of Mother Nature & tried his best to provide for his family of six . He was proud of the fact that
he could send his children to school and even more proud that his young daughters as well his sons went to school . We had grown close to him , following up and being with him all throughout the eight odd years he had been with us. He was a role model for other patients and a
Papa aapko kabhi mujhpar gussa nahi aaya ke aisa baar baar mujhe Bombay leke aana padta hai ? Yamuna was diagnosed with #CML when she was 4. The 9th grader today is an avid reader & full of a sparkling kind of energy . We’ve seen her year after year coming for follow up to Tata.
Her father has been so diligent never missing an appointment No matter what it took Leave of absence from his job included After all these years he says she posed this question to him - perhaps understanding only now completely what it means to manage her treatment & keep her
healthy . Papa, don’t you ever get upset because you have to bring me to Bombay again and again like this ?
Never ever have I been angry or upset with her and I never will be. I will do everything to make sure she studies hard and makes her life .
The stoic Ram Babu his pretty wife & young son were here in April for his periodic check up at Tata Hospital . Ram Babu is one of the reasons behind @chaiforcancer . Years ago when he been diagnosed with CML he was very non compliant skipping his medicines & irregular with his ..
follow up. Upon probing I found out he had lost his job as a truck driver because the thekedar did not want a cancer patient around him. He had no money to travel to Bombay from his village in Bihar . More over he was unable to swallow the capsule as it made him nauseous .
I asked him if he had shared this with his doctor . Yes he had and Doctor Sa’ab had advised him to have it with a glass of milk . So why don’t you do that I asked him never realising how very thoughtless that question was . And insensitive. Ammaji he told me looking away…
Post from May’19 #longthread
Lakshmibai & her husband Reshmaji left their village in Parbani Distirct last night to take an overnight train to Bombay & made their way straight to Tata Memorial Hospital so that they would not be late for her appointment with her Medical Oncologist
They came to our office after the long OPD procedure at the hospital tired thirsty & hungry. It has been a tough few months for them back in the village where Reshmaji tills his small plot of land. The drought marriage expenses of their daughter & fees for the education of one
their two sons ( the other helps his father in the farm) has meant he has had to borrow money from the Sahukar , the money lender , in order to arrange funds for travel and tests and other sundry expenses the periodic visit to Bombay for his wife's check up means .