Reminiscent!

 Because of Aai, so many people entered my life. Oh, no, I am not referring to the obvious, that is, my immediate family. Nor am I referring to the entire legion of the maternal relatives.

I am talking about people who were like the satellites to her daily life. Rasika, her physio of about seven years, could be an example. Actually, she stayed just a lane away, but I got to know her because of Aai.

 Aai used to wait for her daily visit wherein there used to be exercises, of course, but also light hearted banter, quite a bit of up-to-date information about Mukund Nagar Rasika would know much, much better than I would.

Aai used to share all her joys. When she acquired her degree formally, Aai insisted on an at-home party for her. Special gifts for Rasika on the occasion of Diwali and her birthday were a must. Aai would have been very happy today as Rasika gave a housewarming party today.

All of Aai's doctors were quite friendly, too. I remember once Aai had to be admitted to Mangeshkar Hospital at about 1 a.m. as she started grasping for breath. Her gerontologist, Dr. Tamane, was there at her beside at 3-ish. I was speechless with gratitude. 

Earlier when Aai was at Mangeshkar for a longer admission, Dr. Tamane and his team were literally godsend angels. That stay alongwith her on the seventh floor of the old building of the hospital is etched on my memory for 'why doctors are 'warriors' and what medical science can do'.

Her eye surgeon, Dr. Kale, her knee specialist, Dr. Gokhale, the ear surgeon who would come home for a dekko, such specialists have been a solace, too.

The Khare couple, too, have been my go-to destination for minor  medical complaints that are major for an aged patient. In fact, just a day before she passed away, I had insisted that Dr. Khare should give Aai a thorough check-up which he managed at 11.30 p.m.,  next 'he' went to the nearby medical shop to get some tablets he prescribed and were urgently needed. When I called him up on March 26 at 4.30ish, he was there ASAP. 

Amit, her nephew, would tolerate my umpteen worries at about 10.30 p.m when his OPD wd get over. In fact, once my brother wondered why i bothered Amit as he would anyways be so far away. But if it were a genuine but minor issue for which I could not take her to Mangeshkar, i used to depend on him as much as on the Khare couple.

Rasika had great faith in her colleague from Ranka Hospital. The gentleman, almost Aai's age, would at times come for a home visit, and tolerate my discussion of alpha and beta blockers as B.P. medicines, despite being an M.D.!

Pritam Rathod of Rathod Medicos was such a huge help so many times that it would be presumptuous even to thank him. He would procure and deliver medicines home if suddenly urgently required. So many times he has helped me get Aai back to her bed if she suffered a minor fall or a serious ischemic incidence. In fact, he acceded to my request to get Aai's death certificate from Dr. Khare, the last but truly unforgettable help for Aai.

Last, but surely not the least, the Mavashi's! They were indeed inevitable. Sure, they were a bother in multiple ways with their delays, their lies, their casual attitude to an aged patient as the living ATM!

 But some of them genuinely cared for Aai, like the very first Mavashi sent by Sanju. No wonder, Sunita Tai, who used to say that our home was her second 'maher', remembered Aai deeply on the first "Holi" without her.

So many others entered the sphere of Aai's life as a patient, like Mr. Sheikh of Golvilkar Lab who could gently draw the necessary quantity of blood for the customary tests without hurting her, given her fragile veins or the Columbus Mobile x-ray van people who had got to know our address almost by heart! 

Well, in brief, being a caregiver made me meet, talk to, understand an entire cross section of our society. I am deeply grateful to those experiences.

Yet meeting them again pries open that wound of her eternal loss, despite the apparent hemeostasis.

Pratima@ A journey becomes interesting because of the travellers you meet along the way.