The Other Modi - Repeat Telecast

***************************************************************************************************************************

 

  http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/r/retina.asp

Helen Keller, who spoke of him as "a light piercing the darkness with his selfless service".^[2] Dr M C Modi has been awarded

• Padma Shri in 1956
• Padma Bhushan in 1968
• Knight of The Blind award
• Doctorate by Mysore University, Karnataka University and Puna University

In his words - "Like a circus company I have toured all over India since 1943 to provide free eye relief service. In the process I have examined over 10 million patients and conducted over 700,000 eye operations, which I am told is a world record. Somebody compared me to Henry Ford, saying I had brought conveyor belt technology to the field of eye-care. My way of looking at things has not been affected by the aging process at all. I am just an ordinary man. I will serve as long as God wants me to. For me, my patient is my god, the operating room is my temple and my instruments are my puja. My work has therefore been my pilgrimage."
 ...wiki

So when my mom was worried about the star she discovered in my right eye and was scared, Father took some proactive measures and found that Dr. Modi was on one of his circus visits to Nellore in 1953.

So he took me along and we reached the venue of his itinerant tent pitched on the vast football grounds of the V. R. College.

And I found that we were standing at the tail of a mile-long queue...this somehow reminds me now of the stories I read about the Hyderabad fish-prasadam treatment offered free for asthma patients from all over India by the Bathini family...early in the mrigasira fortnight the secret asthma medicine is stuffed in a muriel fishling and dumped into the throat of the welcoming patient and his mouth firmly closed till it is swallowed. 

Of course controversies abound in any free public venture of this sort.

And the line in front of Dr. Modi's tent was moving fast...instant gratification. 

Father had his specs on from his youth. Indeed my mom says that when he came down to have a look at her...to see and to be seen during their bride-seeing ceremony, one of her older grandies asked Father if he was blind...and asked him to prove he could see without his specs...

So, Father was not only my escort but also stood before me in the waiting line...to consult Dr. Modi on his specs power...

Once inside the tent, I found Dr. Modi peering through his ophthalmoscope into every eye that was presented to him. His was a spot decision...he would keep saying "next, next, next" except once in a hundred cases when he would ask his Sister to usher this case into the green room of the tent...and keep saying "next, next, next..."

The goats that were segregated from the sheep were 'operation' cases...now I know that he was doing cataract surgeries on them.

When our turn came, both Father and me were asked to get lost and go to the 'boy' manning the tent. The duty of this boy was simple...there was a huge mound of a yellow ointment. He would scoop a fistful from the mountain and push it into the waiting hands of the patient and ask him to exit through the other door.

But Father was a fond parent and asked Dr. Modi about the star in my eye. And Dr. Modi smiled and said:

"Vitamin A deficiency...let him eat some butter every morning...

"Next...next...next..."

 That is another story...

...Posted by Ishani


**********************************************************************************************************************************

Jhinook Milk - Repeat Telecast

************************************************************************************************************************

http://sree-firststeps.blogspot.in/2009/10/items-to-get-from-india-for-kids.html

In 1953, when I was 10, at our village, Muthukur, I got this nasty eye infection...from my sisters as a free gift...all circulating in schools.

In hindsight I know that it is not the conjunctivitis known as Madras Eye in the South and Jai Bangla in the East...that is supposed to be a viral infection and nothing much can be done with it except wearing goggles and passing it on through air to friends and foes alike.

The infection we got was later termed one of various cocci...strepto, staphylo, gono...pick up your choice...sorry...

But in the early 1950s these cocci were unknown and unsung and untreatable by village doctors. 

The symptoms were funny. One morning we wake up but can't see the world. The eyelids get stuck to each other like with araldite. And we start crying. Father fetches a tumblerful of well-water and a piece of cloth and goes to work on the lids trying to lubricate the things. After a while they are released and we forget about it and go to school and play. 

Till next morning when the drill restarts. 

This continues for a week and then we are fine and forget we ever had eyes.

But I was unlucky that I got these attacks repeatedly...now strepto, now staphylo, and haemo anon...

So, after the fifth attack, my mom one morning was staring at me, and I asked her what was new. She asked me to come to the window and inspected my right eye and pronounced:

"You have a star in your eye!"

And before I could celebrate, she broke down since she had heard from her mom that stars in eyes are not to be neglected since they can lead to complications, meaning loss of sight.

And she recalled that the only remedy for stars is a couple of drops of breast milk twice a day for a week.

Unfortunately breast milk was not available at home...it was lean season.

But not to worry...that was boom time for Indian babies (those that survived). So, mom sent my didi to the nearest and next nearest neighbors to fetch some breast milk. And gave her an uggu ginne (I am sorry there is no English word for it as far as I know).

This uggu ginne is shown in the left half of the pic above...it is tough to describe it...a canonical case where a picture is worth a thousand words.  

EVERY household in AP had one or more of these implements. They are mostly used as dispensers of medicine and vasa to newborn babies.

This vasa is again an indispensable dried stem of a plant in every household. From the second week of birth onwards, babies are administered this vasa. The dried stem is ground bit by bit and dissolved in part or whole in mom's milk (again). And it is poured into an uggu ginne(made of silver or gold depending on the baby's worth and luck). The pipe-tip of the uggu ginneis pushed into the unwilling mouth of the baby and the concoction is poured (with fingers holding the mouth open) ignoring its violent protests. This goes on for six months at least.

This vasa treatment is for a specific purpose...it is not a general tonic. It is believed in Ayurveda that regular and punctual vasa treatment will make the tongue of the baby thin (as it is called) so that the baby learns to talk as early as possible and in tongue-twisting Telugu...

It is a different matter that parents often regret the deleterious consequences of administering excessive vasa to their babes...particularly female...

But it is too late...there is no retro-treatment...Ayurveda is like that...

Anyway, it so turned out that vehement breast-milk treatment didn't work for the star in my eye. 

And my mom was getting worried.

Till Father discovered that Dr. Modi was visiting Nellore with his ophthalmoscope...

That is for tomorrow...

http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/o/opthamology.asp

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 

Aniket writes: 

Dear Sir,

Today the net was down in the morning so I could not read your blog first thing and got to read it only now. 

I don't know what it is called in English, but in Bengal we call it "jhinook".

...Posted  by Ishani

*************************************************************************************************************************