Jar Ornament
I had just travelled to Mumbai after nearly four years of working in Bangalore.
Mumbai was rough, comparatively, what I would call a brown skinned London, because people were equally cold, although always willing to give directions.
In London, they would say you only knew if someone passed away, by the untouched milk bottle.
Had also moved away from the Information Technology industry, into advertising, so the cushy sit around surf-the-internet-all-day days were long gone.
Here you had clients who believed it was their right of way, to call you at all times of night and day, expecting you to solve all the problems they create.
Working in a place which was just a fifteen minute walk(despite which I would travel by my Bullet :P ) away from my home, was actually even worse, considering I ended up working even longer hours.
Being a big fan of the roadside grub, eating outside food in Bangalore most of the time, I would stick to my usual Pani Puri Bhel Puri fare.
What this did to my tummy, was turn my insides into a big gooey paste.
My face started getting boils, where due to my dry skin, I never had any my whole life.
The guys in office really suffered, especially when I started breaking wind. Actually had people bringing deodorants to office soon :D
Called my mother, who used to work at Tata Cancer. She recommended me to her senior doctor in Sion.
Struggled to reach there through the traffic. Ended up at the wrong building and rode back.
In the clinic, I see these wierd bottles of some kind of organ. Not sure, but someone said that was a colon.
Finally, I go in to see the doctor. He looked like Groucho Marx in the flesh.
He looked me up and down, asked about my mum, then gave me a checkup where he just pressed certain points around my stomach and said "Werner, this is not Bangalore, you have to be very careful with what you eat. I recommend you stay off all outside food, except maybe for those grilled sandwiches and buttermilk."
Then he asked me about my typical schedule.
He said"Werner, you need to slow down. Look at me. When I first started, I hardly even had time to see my kids, because I would always delay due to extra work. No one can make you work more than you want to. Today, my receptionist will not even let people in after 7 p.m. since that is my deadline."
It was like he read my mind, giving me a mental checkup as well as a physical checkup.
I moved on, it taking me nearly six months to get my system back in order.
But, I will never forget that colon suspended in that jar.
Mumbai was rough, comparatively, what I would call a brown skinned London, because people were equally cold, although always willing to give directions.
In London, they would say you only knew if someone passed away, by the untouched milk bottle.
Had also moved away from the Information Technology industry, into advertising, so the cushy sit around surf-the-internet-all-day days were long gone.
Here you had clients who believed it was their right of way, to call you at all times of night and day, expecting you to solve all the problems they create.
Working in a place which was just a fifteen minute walk(despite which I would travel by my Bullet :P ) away from my home, was actually even worse, considering I ended up working even longer hours.
Being a big fan of the roadside grub, eating outside food in Bangalore most of the time, I would stick to my usual Pani Puri Bhel Puri fare.
What this did to my tummy, was turn my insides into a big gooey paste.
My face started getting boils, where due to my dry skin, I never had any my whole life.
The guys in office really suffered, especially when I started breaking wind. Actually had people bringing deodorants to office soon :D
Called my mother, who used to work at Tata Cancer. She recommended me to her senior doctor in Sion.
Struggled to reach there through the traffic. Ended up at the wrong building and rode back.
In the clinic, I see these wierd bottles of some kind of organ. Not sure, but someone said that was a colon.
Finally, I go in to see the doctor. He looked like Groucho Marx in the flesh.
He looked me up and down, asked about my mum, then gave me a checkup where he just pressed certain points around my stomach and said "Werner, this is not Bangalore, you have to be very careful with what you eat. I recommend you stay off all outside food, except maybe for those grilled sandwiches and buttermilk."
Then he asked me about my typical schedule.
He said"Werner, you need to slow down. Look at me. When I first started, I hardly even had time to see my kids, because I would always delay due to extra work. No one can make you work more than you want to. Today, my receptionist will not even let people in after 7 p.m. since that is my deadline."
It was like he read my mind, giving me a mental checkup as well as a physical checkup.
I moved on, it taking me nearly six months to get my system back in order.
But, I will never forget that colon suspended in that jar.