And quiet flows the Cooum

Occasionally, in the evenings we get an SOS from Kerala because the kids wish to speak to us. I have been cutting down on calls because hearing our voices makes them more upset. Even the mere mention of my name the other day made Ash bawl loudly one night, wanting to see me. And he sobbed into the phone: 'I want to see Appa and Amma, please take me back to Madras.'
Mira entreaties are calmer: 'Amma, come and take me to whereever you are.'
We tell them, 'Soon when school reopens.'
We are partly helpless because we have no nanny in hand. The one who was with us has disappeared after reaching Kerala. She was supposed to have helped out with managing the kids, as she stays close by. But she had told me that she wasnt keen on being with mil and would instead come back to Chennai in June. But as of now, I dont have much hope as there is no news of her whereabouts.
Moreover, a two-month vacation in a small top-floor apartment that is a virtual oven during the summers is not my idea of a vacation for the kids. The heat in Chennai is searing already. In the bus, casual strangers sitting next to you discuss the heat. "What will May be like if April is so bad?" they shudder. Luckily, we spend a good part of our day in the cool comfort of the office.

Meanwhile, Ash is not alright. After the steroid effect wore off, he is itching and oozing all over. Vaidyan Viswanathan, who did a unique medical course of allopathy and ayurveda during the days of Sir CP Ramaswamy Iyer, says the so-called malignant stuff in his body has to come out. I have my doubts. Whatever the means, I hope the end result is something promising.
And yesterday my brother called to say that my newborn niece has been diagnosed with infantile eczema. It has made me very depressed. In fact I am thinking more about her than my son now. Being a girl, I hope it doesnt get too bad for her. She needs to grow up cute and pretty...