Govind

they owned two beautiful cars- The brown MORRIS was taken by Magan at a nominal price.  Dinu drove a a mini, with no sides of glass on the sides, which made it cheaper.  That was bought by his nephew, Rasik, also bought it giveaway price.  An open house was like a garage sale, greedy people getting things at give away prices.  Mot one person enquired as to why a good Doctor was leaving the country.  Welcome to mankind.

In Chester I was the senior registrar in Ophthalmology.  It included duties at the Chester Royal Infirmary as well as at Clatterbridge, which was about ten miles away.  Travel mileage was allowed, and that brought in more money than the salary!  Also I traveled to the city of Bangor, which is in North Wales.  That was once a month.  Even there, I earned more money then the poor salary.  Welcome to NHS.  My Registrar was a Dr. Khan.  A bigoted chap that thought highly of himself.  In fact, he saw a man who had an Intraocular Foreign Body.  He sent him home, as he did not bother to see the X-Ray.  Upon returning from my duties at Clatterbidge, I noticed the problem.  The man was recalled, and the metallic foreign body was removed with the giant magnet.

Dinu's life was even more hectic.  Initially, she worked at a lunatic hospital nearby.  She did nights.  There were about fifty beds in the ward.  She would start making the beds, and by the time she finished, it would be time for her to go home.  Needless to say, she did not last long.  Then she got a job, which was about ten miles away, doing nights again.  It was a scary place, and had unsavory characters wandering in the yard.  She went to work nights, after juggling children, taking them to different babysitters etc.  We had Sheila, Anita and Raaj at the time.  Kirti came later when we were in Canada.

Later she got a job as VON, or Victorian Order of Nurses, which she enjoyed very much.  Going to different houses, giving some of the Insulin or other requirements.  She was smart, with a dark blue uniform, a cap places on the head not quite straight.  If you ever saw her, you would say that that is the girl I am going to marry.  Lucky for me, I was already married to her.

At the time, we had a dog called Prince.  He was wild.  Once he went into the nighbour's kitchen and ate up the sandwich that Mrs. Vessey had left for Eric, her husband.  Was he ever mad!  At another time, he went and ate up a pound of butter.  He loved to ride in the car, but would jump out if the window was open, and run away.  It was a job finding him.

Eric was proud of his car, and was always polishing it.  Raaj was shy, but for some reason, collect little stones and put it on the grill of his car.  If he ever saw Mrs. Janet Vessey, he would melt away and would not know where to look.

One of the neighbors was interesting, as, when she walked past the house, she would cheer and wave going one way, but ignore everything when going the other way.  It turns out, she was blind in one eye.  She asked Dinu at one time if she had told the dog she the family will be leaving for Canada.  The dog was given to a farmer, but the story is that he ran away from there.

Before leaving for Canada, the family decided once to visit Kenya.  It was exciting for everyone, but, unfortunately buying tickets for everyone emptied out the treasurey.  Nanjibhai was kind enough to but tickets for all from Britain to the unknown country, was Damjibhai gave 110 American Dollars that he had collected from customers.  Thus, the country was entered with that amount in the pocket.

SHEILA was the oldest.  A rolly polly beautiful baby that everyone loved.  She was born in Mombasa in the Pandya Clinic.  As she grew, Dinu returned to Britain to complete her training as a nurse.  The onus of looking after her fell on my mother, Zaverben.  They loved eachother.  As a baby, she loved her soothers. Not one, but many- one around the neck, one on each hand etc.  At one time, she was tolkd that she should give up the habit.  She concurred, and threw them over the wall.  Well, night came, and there was pandemonium.  She wanted them back, so everyone was out with their torches, looking for them in the middle of the night.  She also had a problem of constipation, so all eyes were on her performance, and often a sigh of relief.

At the time, we also had a monkey.  We called her Lucy.  For some reason, she hated Africans.  If anyone approached, she would sneak up and give them a good bite on the ankles.  Sheila used to take her around on a leash.  It was funny, as it was the monkey that led her.

As the monkey dirtied the courtyard, dad was not happy, so she was tied outside, behind the toilets.  It was eerie as one went to the toilet, one suddenly saw a monkey face, which was curious to know what you were upto!

After I left Nyeri, dad took the monkey about twenty miles in the jungle and left her there.  Sure enough, she was back the next day.  She was eventually given to a somali gentleman.

As we said goodbye to the old country, the family embarked onto new vistas, into a land of challenge, new vistas of people, places and you close your eyes, but they are open for you stare in wonderment at the enormity and beauty of this world, and its inhabitants and you are grateful that you were a participant, although in a small amount, but hope you made a difference in many small but important ways to family, dear friends, colleagues and people generally of this great and beautiful nation.

Without much ado, let us plunge into the saga that leads to the next chapters, in many ways different from the previous ones, though remembering the old countries of India, Kenya and Great Britain, not forgetting the water it gave to a growing plant that one day might be a mighty tree.