(Warning: Incredibly long blog entry coming up!)It all started off as an inkling of a thought all the way at the back of our heads when my dad lent his Maruti800 to us for 3 months. I discovered that I could actually drive it. Soon the luxury of 4 wheels sank in and 2 wheels (aka my Kinetic Honda) started gathering dust and risked becoming obsolete. Could we actually buy a new car? The research and calculations started. Unfortunately car companies seem to be producing more new cars everyday! We started off with a Santro in mind and naturally the i10 appealed more – almost clinched it for us once the i10 kappa range rolled out. Er… how about the…

After weeks of postponing and very little practice Becky and I gave a special song at church today – “Everlasting God” (originally by Brenton Brown).The song was special to the two of us as it was the first song we had ever sung together. You can see me blog about that by clicking hereThe song was a blessing to the congregation and it also encouraged Becky and Me to take more active part in church and ministry – something we have not been doing very well!Click here if you would like to see Brenton Brown talk about what inspired him to write the song “Everlasting God” and teach you how to play the song on the guitar. Hope you are…

We’ve done it once in the past 2 years and this weekend we did it twice! Exchange transfusions have been rare at our hospital, but yesterday I ended up with a neonate with Rh iso-immunisation and hemolytic jaundice and did an exchange transfusion. Betsy helped out and the procedure went on well even though Praburam was not around.Unfortunately today the jaundice started increasing again and Betsy also was not around. I ended up doing the second exchange transfusion alone with the help of nurses. Both times we did it late in the night, but thankfully things went on well and the baby had no problems! Praburam and I have always been saying that there are no exchange transfusions around –…

That how much distance Becky covered. And 640 of those kilometers were done in 24 hours – to Chennai and back! The 6 days without her saw me missing her like crazy, but neatly packed cooked food in the refrigerator and constant phonecalls ensures my body, mind and soul never went hungry. Once again we were grateful to God for protectionon the roads and the rails (especially after the series of bomb-blasts in ahmedabad etc). Luckily I am not on duty this weekend and we can catch up on the rest we both need.

So how long does it take to prepare a 15 minute drama which is supposed to be the highlight of the Hospital Day celebrations, includes sound effects, lots of props, plenty of comedy, has interwoven movie dialogues and pure slapstick comedy. Two late nights of script-writing, scouring around for some props, google searches for dialogues and soundeffects and one practise session later we had everything worked out.The screams of voices, applause, whistles and cheers that greeted us when we walked on stage and continued throughout this comedy skit was proof that we did well. Noone expected the doctors to let down their hair, throw caution to the winds and let loose on stage with this kind of comedy and fun!…

A cricket match, 400 meter sprint, lime soda at FSM, 2 nights on the bus, 640 kilometers, a home-check, Ashraya, a ride to locate Mr. Ayyappan, a wedding reception, 2 hours through congested chennai roads, a mad rush to the bus stop (made miraculously easy in a luxury bus) and back to Trichy – that sums up the weekend. My age finally seems to be catching up – I have vague body pains and actually felt a little tired when I was at work today. A few hours of extra sleep in the afternoon and I was back in form, just waiting for Becky to join me tomorrow – that will spruce me up big time!Wonder how God gives humans…

Cricket under the blazing sun – that was the highlight of today. It was a part of the hospital sports celebration (in view of the hospital day coming up).The action packed 12 over match saw me taking an impressive catch (even the tree branches couldn’t stop me), being the batsman with the highest strike rate ( 2 runs off 2 balls = strike rate of 100%), help run out Ben and also end up on the losing side. The hero of the match was Rajendran – the single over he bowled ensured we lost the match as the ball disappeared out of the ground several times!Other activities made sure we were all well-dehydrated at the end of it all and…

As the best husband in the world I will now run you through a crash course on how to impress your wife in 5 minutes! Follow these steps carefully!Lesson 1:1. Arrive home from work 15 minutes before your wife (The hardest part!)2. Boil some water, add the tea leaves, add some milk and sugar – i.e. make some tea (If you can’t do this step you’re in trouble dude!)3. Look at wedding gifts received and pick out the cute blue tea set with a cute tea pot and cute small cups (Duh…. didnt you get one on your wedding??!!)4. Set it up just in time to hear the doorbell ring.5. Give cute wife warm hug (she needs one after a…

Yo guys… I did it again today…. twice!We were off to church and I quietly passed the turning we had to take – 100 metres before Becky brought it to my notice. U-turn and there was the turning… 10 meters behind me! I had overshot again. Two rights do not make a right – this is ample proof of that saying. Five minutes later we were in church…. just in time for a closing prayer!! Duh…. whats happening!! Luckily we learnt that it was the Youth meeting that was just getting over and that the Church service would start in five minutes!Now thats too many double-surprises to take in one evening! But then as expected we had a blessed time…

I guess you know by now that it’s the car. Last night saw the poor 800cc, 4-wheeled Maruti having his motor cleaned and then he needed a temporary pace-maker while his own battery got charged! And today morning he sprang back to life – I wasn’t very happy with the sound as it wasn’t as chirpy as his usual self. I still feel he may be having some undiagnosed problem with his wiring or that complicated array of stuff under his bonnet – but for now…. he looks like he’ll make it!