BR Hills : The Getaway

INTERNSHIP WAS JUST 1 YEAR but the experience and insight, which it endowed, was mammoth. One of the best parts which has alloyed into my reminiscence was this mountain of 2 letter word B.R ………..hills and its mysteries ,that 1 month of rurals made me realize that life is more compliant more vascular ,more de novo ,more simple over the hills not the plains albeit mired with some difficulties. It all started with the start of our repeater batch rural postings .Me and patar made a mini master plan to convert the usual 15 days rural at one phc into 1 month rendezvous .The perk was that NS was working there as medical officer and we thought that a 1month long party was decent enough for us. We somehow persuaded Sharada machiah and probably because of her british education in community medicine which has a high regard for rural research ,we threw a bait that we were going to do a rural project and 15 days won’t suffice …she generously donated 15 days extra ….with a titubating nod. That day 4 guys packed their bags me ,patar saga,and ravindra sir.I took my Yamaha and patar ,his Aston martin (a cross breed between cycle and moped ).

Journey was a bumpy one but our intermittent tea breaks at small angadis was like heaven. At last we reached yellandur the last of plains .Uphill was a thing worth remembering ,full of greens ,wildlife ….with gaurs giving us wild stares…and interspersed with anecdotes by saga…..chants by ravindra sir,”never mind who cares” looks from patar and of course sound effects by me. At last we halted at our destination “a cottage looking PHC……with a serious doc examining patients and voila it was NS with a frenchie. I wondered that if he would have devoted even half of that dedication during mbbs times he would be a rank student. With chikkamada and bommi on his left and right he turned to us and his oral cavity dilated “yen daktare bandbittidiraa”……hi hi heee. After his usual antics of “yelli muttidiru nu sumne irtaaney” we infested his room even when we were given separate accommodation. Food was a problem but thanks to NS bread toast &butter,maggi ,and giridarshini we never starved. Days were short and nights were long. Patar immersed himself in NS computer ,hari om was in his own kick ,saga was a bit restless as his routine activities were different than ours …thanks that he persisted ,and I used to watch the roof endlessly as the fear of lizards falling from the roof was huge. NS was the guy who had a drastic change, he bathed daily, saw patients and treated them with his vocal medicine more than oral medicine. During the mobile visits to the tribal hamlets I came to know that every disease in this universe can be treated with PCT, CPM, RANTAC…the wonder drugs. Then there was this STF chief types who hammered us with real masala mix stories of veerappan and how STF chilled out in the jungles and lastly how MUCH ns WAS AT RISK of being kidnapped b’cos veerappan was having status asthmaticus and NS was the only mobile doc in that area…for all this timepass he charged a cpm,pct,rantac and albendazole. But of course the prince of BR hills was this young old man called GANESH, with an estate, a gypsy, ham radio, net, a lovely house, and his kari bekku coffee…he was the prince of what he called not BR but BEVERLY HILLS. He was a guy who knew everything about everything at a tender age of probably 60’s.Evenings were spent at mahesha angadi and watching snake lake and sticks. Our national geographic life was well handled by NS as BR hills was full of wildlife including patar. Anyway every nice story has an end and one fine damp morning we packed our bags and rolled back to the plains ……