Coffee & Pannalal Ghosh
Neilou seems to be having a better morning today. He is having his coffee while listening to Pannalal Ghosh . He gave a quick Wikipedia summary about the maestro, including the fact that he was married to the celebrated music composer, Anil Biswas’s sister, and the fact that he played with a flute that was longer than normal.
Today will be Day 8 of 28 days of chemotherapy. He looks a bit stronger than the last few days. The injections have stopped, and he is on oral pills for now. The last few days, he was very weak and had no appetite and was quite tired. He still needs transfusions from time to time.
A couple of days ago, the doctors announced that he is not a candidate for the clinical trial of the new drug. This means that instead of the targeted therapy which would have left his healthy cells alone, he has to go through the more conventional treatment that impacts the cancerous as well as the healthy cells. That means his body is expected to weaken before it gets better. But for now, he is doing reasonably well, and the doctors feel that it is still very much on track as long as he keeps his nourishments and water intake going.
Here is another little story from him. In 1951, Ramen Bakshi, a referee of the IFA shield, took him to the Sporting Union club to play. However, he was on the bench for the season and did not get to play at all. In 1952, his neighborhood team, Greer Club, took him to play hockey. At the end of January, there was a championship match between Greer and Aryan Football Club. Pota da, was a general caretaker of the Aryan club. He looked after the players, providing general logistical support, etc. He would also stand in for various roles in the pitch, sometimes as a goal keeper, sometimes as a fielder in the cricket team, etc. Pota da spotted him at the match and went to Neilou’s home the next morning. He invited him to play at the Aryan Club. Neilou agreed and went to sign a transfer at the IFA office and had to pay Rupee Two. The next day, this transfer was announced in the papers, where he was named as Nelson Betullia !!
Dada singing on Ruhin birthday, 17th Dec.
A full rainbow seen from Neilou’s bedside.
