Indian Writing

Today is World Alzheimer’s Day.

Here is a piece by Humra Quraishi about the disorder which affected her father.

Those affected by this disorder change beyond recognition. Their intellectual capabilities deteriorate and only “little islands of memory” remain. As a specialist puts it, “memory becomes polka dotted”.

Here is Alice Munro’s story “The Bear Came Over the Mountain”.

Over a year ago, Grant had started noticing so many little yellow notes stuck up all over the house. That was not entirely new. Fiona had always written things down—the title of a book she’d heard mentioned on the radio or the jobs she wanted to make sure she got done that day. Even her morning schedule was written down. He found it mystifying and touching in its precision: “7 a.m. yoga. 7:30–7:45 teeth face hair. 7:45– 8:15 walk. 8:15 Grant and breakfast.”

The new notes were different. Stuck onto the kitchen drawers—Cutlery, Dishtowels, Knives. Couldn’t she just open the drawers and see what was inside?

Here is a clip from “Away from Her”, Sarah Polley’s film version of the story, with Julie Christie as Fiona.

Towards the end of her life, Iris Murdoch was an Alzheimer’s patient.

*****

On another note, I was startled to see Outlook taking the moral high ground in this article about Asha Bhonsle and her mother-in-law Meera Burman (the widow of S.D.Burman). Apparently the 92-year old Meera Burman, an Alzheimer’s patient, has been bedridden since R.D.Burman’s death in 1994. And according to the article, it seems that Bhonsle shifted Meera Burman to an old age home some months ago, allegedly bringing her back this year only after she was to be presented with an award.

You’d imagine that these are difficult personal decisions that should be left to families to work out for themselves, but note Outlook’s primly disapproving tone (”that Asha could dump her mother-in-law in this fashion”; “packed off to a home for the aged”; “the drastic step”; “She may have languished there”; “perfect plot for our saas-bahu serials”). Also the speculations about Bhonsle’s interest in R.D.Burman’s property (”stories of how Asha had cleverly managed to get control over most of his assets”; “Those in the know suggest property row as a reason”). She was married to him, after all.

I don’t know the whole story, and I suspect no one does, other than the family itself; and so I didn’t like the gossipy, holier-than-thou tone of the article at all. I do feel strongly about the importance of caring for older family members, but I also think it’s important to be respectful of the choices that different people make in such circumstances. Especially if an older person is ailing and requires the kind of professional care that cannot be provided round-the-clock at home.

A last lecture by Randy Pausch, computer scientist and professor at CMU, who has pancreatic cancer and expects to have only a few more months of healthy life. From this WSJ article:

He paid tribute to his techie background. “I’ve experienced a deathbed conversion,” he said, smiling. “I just bought a Macintosh.” Flashing his rejection letters on the screen, he talked about setbacks in his career, repeating: “Brick walls are there for a reason. They let us prove how badly we want things.” He encouraged us to be patient with others. “Wait long enough, and people will surprise and impress you.” After showing photos of his childhood bedroom, decorated with mathematical notations he’d drawn on the walls, he said: “If your kids want to paint their bedrooms, as a favor to me, let ‘em do it.”

While displaying photos of his bosses and students over the years, he said that helping others fulfill their dreams is even more fun than achieving your own. He talked of requiring his students to create videogames without sex and violence. “You’d be surprised how many 19-year-old boys run out of ideas when you take those possibilities away,” he said, but they all rose to the challenge.

He also saluted his parents, who let him make his childhood bedroom his domain, even if his wall etchings hurt the home’s resale value. He knew his mom was proud of him when he got his Ph.D, he said, despite how she’d introduce him: “This is my son. He’s a doctor, but not the kind who helps people.”

You can watch the lecture here. And read about his cancer journey here.