GOOD BYE, MY BROTHER.

I have been away from blogging and away from my gramophones and music records, not by option but by force of circumstances, for the last one month.

I lost my only brother on the 21st of May unexpectedly. He was taken from his office and admitted to a hospital on the evening of the 18th May with giddiness and he passed away after three nights on the 21st.afternoon. Loads of medicines, fluids, injections, tests, scans, a brain surgery and the continuous day and night vigil by us outside the ICU and the CCU did not help as he breathed his last on the 21st after a sudden cardiac failure as told to us by the doctors. The end came as a shock to all of us as his condition was stated to be continuously improving for about 34 hours after the surgery and we were all feeling slightly relieved.

On the 8th May we had lost our only uncle, aged 85 years but quite healthy, at Trichur. Myself and my brother along with our families had travelled together to Trichur to attend to uncle's last rites. My brother, a bit shaken, was overseeing the arrangements etc., for the funeral, he being the eldest nephew. Watching my brother, an unholy thought as to how I would face the situation in case something happened to him had crossed my mind. I had chided myself immediately for entertaining such a thought and soon forgot about it. As ill luck would have it, I have been forced to face the situation within two weeks. Of course the shock and panic are fading and all of us are limping back to normalcy.

Well, brother, you have been fastidious and well planned in everything you did. Your punctuality, sense of personal hygiene and appearance, planning and execution, meticulous book keeping and maintenance of records, your desire to go only for the best, your willingness to extend whatever help you could to others and, above all, your honesty and integrity made us all proud. Probably you had planned your departure also this way to avoid possible inconvenience to others!

You have left with me a lot of fond memories about our childhood, school days in our village, later our college days at Calicut and life thereafter. I remember how stoically you had faced personal tragedies and set backs in life. I have pleasant and glorious memories about your very successful professional career in banking in India and abroad. It was celebration time for us whenever you came home on leave.

First my mother, then my father and, thereafter, my uncle. And now, good bye my brother. We will meet again there.



Tail piece: Are our ICUs and CCUs trustworthy? How can we ensure that patients left by us in ICUs are in safe enough hands and that they are getting the expected attention in time? Have not the near and dear ones of the patients waiting round the clock outside the ICUs got the right to get information about the patients at frequent intervals from competent persons?