Aditya, about whom I had blogged here a few months back, passed away in his sleep this afternoon. He fought the deadly disease bravely for many months but finally succumbed to it leaving behind his grief stricken parents.

Thanks to many of you who prayed for this tender soul and those who contributed towards his treatment charges. We can only console ourselves that we all tried our best to save this young boy but that God had different plans for him.

You can see more updates at - adityak02.googlepages.com/latestupdates

As I had mentioned in one of my previous posts, Sharadha is not big into TV.  Part of the reason for disinterest could be that our cable operator here relays all kids channels with the Hindi language option.  Sharadha does not follow Hindi at all (and her parents are actually Hindi illiterate :) ).

Now with the world cup on, and due to the fact that we actually get to see only 40% of the channels promised by the cable operator, we recently switched to Tata Sky.  (I don't want to post a review of Tata Sky here - but I could not resist saying that the feed quality and the overall user experience with Tata Sky is mind blowing).  One of the key features is the choice of language for most of the channels like cartoon network, Animal Planet, Toon disney, Discovery etc.  Obviously, our choice was English.

I wanted to experiment how Sharadha would react to this choice of language.  She was initially thrilled to see these channels at such high resolution and signal clarity.  The pictures were crisp and the audio extremely clear (stereo?).  But after the first few minutes regular service was resumed.  She moved over to another room in the apartment to pour water on the floor by filling a plastic bottle with water and shaking it vigorously.  Sigh!

But then, this post is not about Tata Sky or my daughter pouring water on the floor.  I wanted to know whether people elsewhere in India also received PoGo predominantly in Hindi.  I just cannot remember anytime when I got to switch to this channel to see a programme in English. Heck - even a Chinese/Japanese program seemed to have Hindi commentary.  It sometimes rakes me to see the people speak in one language only to hear it in a totally different language without any effort at lip synching.   I live in Hyderabad, and get to see PoGo in Hindi - and the language option is not available on Tata Sky too.  Is it the same in Chennai too?  I bet the channel will not have any viewers in our state if that were the case.

I saw the PoGo channel blog a few minutes back and I vaguely remember an email from Raj about how this post has attracted a lot of comments. And I must say that I was pleasantly surprised to see so many people commenting how they love this show (MAD?) on PoGo and also how they love watching this channel.

I am probably in a minority when I say that, I do not watch this channel. Heck - I do not seem to be watching any channel on TV. I cannot remember when I last saw a news programme or a movie or any kind of programme on TV. And to add insult, I have two TVs at home - one in our bedroom. The best use of this TV is to watch some old classics like Thiruvilaiyadal, Maya Bazaar, Sound of Music, etc or kids movies that my daughter sees. We have a fairly good collection of kids movies - animated as well as the normal ones - and from time to time I do get to watch some of these. Again, these are not watched on a daily basis.

My daughter too seems to have very little interest in TV. She is more interested in turning the house upside down - spray talcum powder all over the house, write/draw/paint on pieces of paper big and small, run around the house with a tumbler full of water (and hence spill water all over the floor), and such. :) On a normal day the house is usually in a big mess and it takes a while to set the house in order in case we expect any visitors.

On the one hand we are happy that Sharadha is not very interested in TV (the last thing we want is for her to get addicted to TV shows) and on the other hand we feel that it would probably help us in keeping the house in order if she sat glued to one place watching TV or something. :)

I do not know how others manage, but sometimes we get frustrated and lost for ideas when it comes to engaging her. She seems to have so much more time for mischief than we have to clean up. She finishes her school home work under half an hour and spends the rest of her time (and she goes late to bed as well) looking to do something like this.

We have tried to get her into reading books - but how much more can I expect from a UKG going girl? She does read but her attention span is pretty low if there is a lot of words for her to read. She loves to watch pictures and read books on animals - just any kind on land, air or sea - and she loves to watch these on Animal Planet once in a while. But again, I do not want to over do this interest.

I am now planning to get her into something like a music class. And I am looking for one that is close to home.

Any other suggestions?

The news from Aditya's parents is not looking good. Aditya seems to be going from one complication to another which is delaying the Bone Marrow transplant. Aditya's cancer does not seem to be responding to chemo treatments and the poor child has gone through six rounds of chemo already. I am sure many here are aware how terrible the side effects of chemo are!!

Aditya is going through one final round of chemotherapy. The doctors have said that this in effect will be their final effort. If he responds, they could then go in for a transplant.

At this stage, there is nothing more than prayers that Kumar and Sangeetha seek from us. They believe that the collective effects of prayers will have a positive effect on their child. Please see the latest post from Kumar below. I request everyone, who believe and believe that prayers may help the child, to spend a few minutes everyday to pray for his health, that he would return to India cured of the dreaded disease.

March 6, 2007

Doctors after lots of discussions, brainstorming sessions and consultation have decided to put him on a couple of drugs combination that he has not had for a long time . They are going to start the chemo today. The chemo will go on for 5 days. The side effects of these drugs are quite severe. God give aditya lots of strength to pull through this like he did with earlier chemo treatment.

This is like a last ditch attempt. We know that all of you are praying for Aditya but we are so desparate that we again request each and everyone who sees this update to PRAY for Aditya's good health. Its only because of collective prayers that Aditya has survived six rounds of chemo so far. So please continue....

For more details, go to - http://adityak02.googlepages.com/latestupdates

Wishing everyone a very happy new year.

I have been pretty much tied down with a lot of activities at work that I have not been able to visit Jambav and post more often as I would like to.

However, a comment from Arthi today, reminded me that I have not been providing an update on Aditya - about whom I had posted almost 2-3 months back.

Aditya is currently undergoing treatment at the Children's Hospital Pittsburg (CHP).  They have run into trouble even before the bone marrow transplant could be done.  Due to some requirements for the transplant, they require the cancer to be in a state of remission (something akin to being dormant).  This was not the case as the doctors figured out that Aditya was not responding to the Chemo treatments.  They have administered a new drug called Clolar - whose success rate is just around 30% - which is administered to patients who have already failed previous treatments of chemo.  Kumar and Sangeetha and wishing, hoping and praying that the new drug takes effect and puts Aditya's cancer into remission.  The initial signs seem to be positive but they are yet to confirm this by doing another bone marrow test that is due this week.

For more updates, please visit http://adityak02.googlepages.com/latestupdates

Kumar tries his best to update regularly and keep everyone informed.  I request people on Jambav to also join in the prayers for this child.  Let us hope the new drug and the transplant would give a new life to this kid.

You may have seen my earlier post on Aditya Kumar.  The child's current condition has taken a lot out of me - mentally draining.

It is not that I am hearing about a child suffering from cancer for the first time.  It is in fact becoming quite frequent - just a few months back the child of a relative of a friend died of cancer.  Felt sad then, probably a few minutes before I returned to my daily chores.

It affects a lot more when things happen closer to you.  In the case of Aditya, it affects me as his father is a very close friend of mine.  I knew he had some blood related problem; but Kumar never told me ever that it was this serious.  we actually met a few months back at Bangalore and he said Aditya was cured and is going to school now.  I did not realize that within a couple of months I would get an email that says exactly the opposite.

I have tried everything possible in my means - blasted out mails to all friends and contacts, posted on blog sites, talked to some people in the USA who I felt may be of help, checked with a paediatric oncologist at Philly, etc.  I am still talking to people and trying my best to bring down the cost of the treatment to more manageable levels.

I can understand if a child is suffering from a disease that cannot be treated.  If the doctors tell me there is no cure, I would simply pray for the child and be quiet.  But what agitates me is that, there is a cure, and it is so not affordable.  It is ridiculous to lose a precious life just because of lack of funds.  When we talk to those hospitals in the US, it is very clear that they are charging way more than what the treatment should actually cost.  It is monoploy at its best.  They have the skills, the expertise, the facilities, and if you want to use them, pay up.  That we are talking about a four-year old child is lost on these people.  It is money that matters most.

I have been able to get someone to sponsor their air tickets to the USA.  One of my friends has been kind enough to suggest that he can host them during their 2-3 month stay there for treatment and post operative care.  Another friend has written that he will personally receive them, travel with them to the hospital, introduce them to his cousin who is a paediatrist there and ensure that all is well before he returns to his state - a thousand miles away.

These are friends of mine and they do not know Kumar that well.  But they are willing to come forward and help.  But what is more important now is to bring down the cost of the treatment.  That is where I am driving against a wall, and it is not yielding.

An appeal to all readers of this blog - if you happen to know someone who may be of some help in this regard, please contact me.  It is a question of life and death for a four year old, who has been suffering the last two years.  He has not seen anything as a child, and it would be a tragedy if he cannot get treatment simply because it is not available in India and because we do not have the money to send him abroad.

Thanks for being patient and reading through this blog post.

Apologies for posting a donation request here, but I am trying my best to help raise some money for the treatment of the child of one of my friends.  The child is all of four years old and suffers from ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, a form of Blood Cancer).

For more information please visit the following sites:

http://www.geocities.com/asha_anand_ba/Aditya.html

http://www.cpaaindia.org/casefile/index.htm#Aditya

He has to raise close to Rs. 1 crore for the child's treatment and he has managed to raise some funds through personal resources and through friends.  But it is still not enough and he hopes to raise the remaining amount through donations and charity.  Kindly donate as best as you can towards saving the life of this child.

If you donate through the CPAA site you may get tax benefits if you are in India.  For residents in the US, there is another option that is listed on the first site listed above.

If you would like to make a direct payment to Kumar, please drop me an email at shankar dot viswanathan at gmail dot com and I shall coordinate the same.

Hoping to get all the help that this child needs.  Please spread the word.  There is a saying in Tamizh - Siru thuli peru vellam - which literally means small drops make up an ocean.  Let us contribute our drops - I am sure it will all add up and help in the treatment of this child.

Thanks in Advance.

My wife was having a quick chat with my daughter Sharadha.  She said, "Sharadha, I don't want to yell at you.  To help me from not yelling at you, it is better you stop doing all this mischief".

My daughter gave this terse reply, "Yes ma!  But it would be good if you can control your temper as well."

Naturally, I was in splits on hearing this and cannot but wonder how children view actions of their parents.  We assume that we are admonishing them for mistakes  they make, but from their point of view, we are only losing our temper.

These are definitelyt points to ponder for parents.

Good to see the vernacular press also covering this incident and highlighting the issue.  Hope this helps in creating awareness and reduce repeats of such incidents in the future.

thatstamil.oneindia.in/news/2006/10/06/flight.html

We lived in Fremont, USA (bay area) when my daughter Sharadha was born.  Our social circle in the bay area was pretty limited.  We had been in the US for a little over two years and obviously most of whom we met were other desis who lived in that area.  It was only when we relocated to San Diego that we got exposed to more non-desis.  Naturally one of the issues that we faced was that of language - we used to speak to Sharadha at home only in Tamizh.  It was not by design but because we were most comfortable talking in Tamizh than in English.  At least to me, I sounded more genuine when I called Sharadha "chakra kutti" than say something as inane as "sweety pie". 

This meant that when we were at a gathering, or a pot luck party (I have more to write on the pot luck nonsense but shall reserve it for later) people would talk to Sharadha in various languages ranging from English to Hindi to what not and her reaction would always be to cry and run into her parents' arms.  Naturally we were worried.  We were not sure whether we should start talking to her in English at home or whether we ought to continue the way we always talked.

Luckily, I got a manager who was an American of Indian origin.  He was a Gujarati and would speak in Gujarati to his wife and son.  I was a little surprised to see this as most second generation kids in the US spoke hardly a smattering of their native tongue.  His suggestion to me was to continue talking in Tamizh at home because that is the language the kid will never get to learn when she goes out of the house.  And his opinion was, kids pick up a language within weeks if not days, if their survival depended on that.

We were happy that we had at least one person who concurred with our views.  We continued to talk to Sharadha only in Tamizh (of course it was not pure classical Tamizh).  We continued doing this even after we returned to India and settled down at Hyderabad.  When Sharadha started going to school, she could not speak in English nor did she follow the language very well.  Luckily, we identified a very good school for her - they did not bother us with such trivialities but instead ensured  that the child picks up the language really well.

Today, Sharadha is in her UKG and she can speak fairly well in English.  She can express herself quite clearly and her vocabulary is also pretty decent for her age.  Of course, her command over Tamizh is extremely good.  She comes up with certain expressions that would amaze even adults.  She is also picking up Hindi from school although I would rather she picked up Telugu.  Unfortunately, in Hyderabad people hardly ever speak Telugu.  :D

One issue we face is teaching her to read and write in Tamizh.  We are unable to do so as we lack the skill to teach Tamizh to kids.  The teachers at school somehow make the kids learn a new language.  The same technique however does not work at home :D  We are unable to make her sit and write aana, aavana... (the Tamizh alphabets).

More later......