Let your ears breathe…(hopefully)

A typical busy street in Chennai

My second day began with a short stint at the gym… in short.. I got irritated at this girl in the gym because she could not stop exercising…. So my motivation was down the toilet bowl as I could barely do a fraction of what she did… haha… so I had a shower, ate breakfast and went to the hospital to see the ENT.

The ENT basically said that at this point, a hearing aid would be necessary to help me cope with college and social situations and hence, he referred me to a distributor of such a product…

After having met the audiologist, he too came to a conclusion that the hearing aid would not only aid in a social situation but it will also arrest and/or slow down the hearing degradation.

The audiologist proceeded to then tune a hearing aid according to my specifications detailed in the audiogram. Apparently, the part of the cochlear that processes high frequency sounds is severely lacking, so the hearing aid has been tuned to amplify high frequencies. I was given a day to test-run the product and boy did some things sound a helluva lot louder!

Unfortunately, the hearing aid is sooo difficult for me to put on due to its small size. My fingers are not so dextrous and finer points of sensation are not so good. As such, I need help putting on this tiny contraption. I was duly informed by the staff at this company on how to maintain this expensive product. Not surprisingly, this hearing aid is sensitive to water, sweat and oil…. moisture in other a words… so I was given this dehumidifier jar to suck out excess moisture every night. And the battery needs to be changed every two weeks… so yeah… the bloody gadget costs as much an apple notebook! Goodness. Gracious. Me.

Too small

close up

That pretty much sums up my time in Chennai… my spine is healthy..my right ear needs help and my spirit is lifted…

As an added bonus, I got upgraded to first class back home.. cool eh?

I am so grateful that the Lord has been merciful in bringing people into my life to help me when I need it. I am so so relieved that my quality of life has not been affected but rather,  technology has compensated.

Christmas is around the corner and I know that I certainly have a lot to be thankful for….

until next time xoxoK

Journey begun…

So like everyone who knows me were astonished to find out I was travelling alone to Chennai… until I tell them that Dilip is meeting me there… then they all go “ahhh… then it’s okay lah!”

I do admit that I was a wee bit nervous cause it was my first time on my own… but in the end it wasn’t so bad..locating the gate was easy enough… however I NEGLECTED to tell you at this point that I had to hand carry my notebook from K.L. all the way to Chennai. Why? Because the bag I was suppose to carry on-board was too heavy and I had to check it in so obviously I could not risk my computer getting damaged…so I hand carried it in a duty-free bag…

I arrived in Chennai safe and sound…however… Dilip was no where in sight… turned out he missed his flight and he arrived later than I did…

On top of that, I took the wrong bag because it looked like my bag at first..lol… i ran back in as soon as I realized my mistake and the guards were kind and uhmm…sympathetic enough to my plea…lol… haha… you gotta learn at some point.

So finally after I met up with Dilip Gidwani and the cabby, we headed off to our apartment-turned hotel: Krish Infra, Le Grande. In retrospect, Dilip wasn’t really happy with the place because the internet connection was poor. However, contrary to his beliefs about Le Grande, I have nothing but appreciation for a reasonable-ish priced hotel. Let me tell you why: in all the times I have been to Chennai, I have tried a myriad of hotels, ranging from the 3 star to 5 star hotels. I had the misfortune of not being cognizant of the state of these dingy 3 star hotels until I stayed there. I remember the first one I stayed in smelled of insecticide, and the second one I stayed in had no hot water. Furthermore, the beds were totally unbearable for my back. Of course the 5 star hotels were beyond brilliant but the price was through the roof! So in my time at Apollo last year in 2007, my aunts and my mom found this reasonably-priced hotel tucked in a little scenic section of Chennai called Poese Gardens: Le Grande. This picturesque neighborhood is painted by many beautiful houses and mansion-turned apartments. It’s not anything like the stereotypical busy, dirty and polluted streets of Chennai. The neighborhood streets were squeaky clean and were adorned with nature-inspired decor: trees and flowers…

Street of Poese Gardens

Thankfully, the place was clean, the beds were comfortable, the staff were warm and the food was so-so. Internet connection can be lousy but that is the one and only downfall as I see it.

my humble abode

 

I was so tired after the flight that I wanted to just plop myself on the bed and snore the day away but this was not the case. I had a fixed appointment with Dr. Hegde. When we arrived at the hospital, Dr. Hedgehog (as I affectionately call him) was still in the O.R. so we had to be patient and boy was it worth it. That man, you know, being 50-something is more fit than lots of guys I know in their twenties….hawt!!!!!! I kinda like this doc cause he has an attachment to this paticular patient. He’s the rugged and coarse type but when it comes to me, he mellows down… beats me why… I am sure you are wondering at this point why I have not put up a picture of him.. well to be honest with you… despite his mellowing down, I didn’t have the nerve to… haha,…and I was much too embarrassed to take yet another picture of him! All is not lost yall, you still have my ‘poetic’ desctription of him… hawt!

 

Ok so the good news is that my spine is in good shape but the bad news is that my hearing isn’t doing AMAZINGLY well. As such, Dr. Hegde referred me to an ENT specialist and I was to meet him the next day. The next post will describe the following day at Apollo. Before we left Dr. Hedgehog’s clinic, Dilip and the Doc were making small talk. Hedgehog recommended we dine at Kabul as Dilip was not familiar with the good eateries in Chennai so there you go.. that was our final destination that day before retiring back to Le Grande. Kabul is an Afghanistan-inspired restaurant that serves Indian cuisine. I had the mutton gosht biryani which was absolutely succulent while Dilip feasted on some rotis. For dessert, we had pistachio kulfi… that too was sinfully delicious. I was rather intrigued by the ceiling of this cozy restaurant. It was embellished with Afghan artistry, heavy embroidery with intense yet colorful patterns… What do you think?Too much?

Too much?

 

 

There you have it… my first and hectic day in Chennai. After Kabul, I fell straight to bed and dreamt the night away.

Till next time.. xoxoK

front view of Le Grande

Land of the Honks…here I come

Hi all who diligently read my blog…I am off to India for a routine check up tomorrow… MRIs and whatnot… a little extra in seeing an ENT, possibly for a hearing aid as my hearing isn’t so good these days in the presence of environmental noises… Please pray that nothing needs to be done besides obtaining a hearing aid.

Peace and GOD BLESS ALWAYS xXK

P.S. Looking forward to indian food

P.S.S. Looking forward to yeeeen…dian! hotties.. haha!!

P.S.S.S. I nicknamed India Land of the Honks because there is never a moment of peace on the road due to constant honking!