Yesterday, the Welfare Association of Kidney Patients, Hyderabad organized a one day picnic to Nagarjunasagar for kidney patients of the city. It was an excellent initiative that aimed to create awareness of kidney disease and the risk factors so that people could avoid it in the first place. The group planned to stop at various villages and towns on the way to Nagarjunasagar and distribute pamphlets and  explain to the general public about this disease and how it can be avoided.

Mamatha, who spearheads this association is on dialysis for the last 12 years. She is a highly energetic lady with great passion for this cause. She called me to accompany the group as well but I could not go due to some other commitments. I plan to go the next time for sure.

Before the flagging off, there was a small gathering where the Commissioner, Information and Public Relations, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Venkatesam, spoke to the gathering. I was asked to speak as well. I was wondering what to say. I ended up making an appeal to the Commissioner to abolish import duties on life saving drugs and to increase the exemption limit under section 80 DDB that allows people with chronic conditions to claim an exemption up to Rs. 50,000 per year. This amount is a bloody joke. I spend more than that in two months on my medical expenses.

Looking back, however, I feel I should have addressed the dialysis patients rather than the Commissioner. I am sure nothing is going to happen on the government front for decades. However, a small message to dialysis patients could have set them thinking about how they can lead normal lives on dialysis.

What I should have said was something on these lines:

There are three things a dialysis patient can do to lead a life as close to normal as possible:

1. Get as much dialysis as your money permits: With dialysis, without doubt, more the better. In fact, co-incidentally, Dr. Ashwin Aiyangar has blogged about this recently. So, let only your financial resources limit the amount of dialysis. The more dialysis you get, the better your blood counts, the less severe your co-morbidities, the more active your life.

2. Exercise: Even if it means just a little bit. But move about. Do as much as your physical condition permits you. Of course, talk to your doctor first. But even a little exercise helps not only your body but your mind as well.

3. Work: If you are able to, work. Even if it is only part time. For one, it takes your mind off the medical problem. It gives you tremendous amount of self-confidence. Your sense of self-worth improves. And, heck, whatever money you make can help you pay your dialysis bills!

I was on the way back from Hyderabad to Secunderabad. On the way, suddenly I noticed a huge traffic jam ahead of me somewhere in the middle of the Tank Bund road. I could not avoid it since I was already on the Tank Bund road. The traffic was moving at a snail's pace. I was very surprised since it was a Sunday. As the traffic inched its way ahead I noticed a huge group of people wearing saffron clothes with flags and carrying banners of some organization. The group occupied nearly half the width of the road and the entire traffic was held up for at least 45 minutes.

I muttered a curse under my breath. What business had this group, however noble its cause, to hold up traffic in this way? What if someone had an emergency to attend to? What would anyone do in these circumstances?

Then suddenly, I remembered that my own religion organized such processions every year! I was wondering if the objectives behind such processions were really being met. Do people really get impressed by such processions or curse the religion and its followers in the procession?

I have often heard arguments in favor of this procession that go, "All religions do it. If they can do it, so can we!" I usually give up right there.

Maybe what should be done is have such processions in huge grounds - maybe the Exhibition Ground or Parade Grounds or something similar. That way the procession can also be done and people are also not inconvenienced. But, some would argue, that the whole purpose of the procession is to show the people. I am not sure I agree with that.

I got an email from LIC India one day saying that they sent a cheque to me (pertaining to a policy that my parents had taken for me) quite a while back and it had not been encashed. They wanted to check if I received it or not. As it turns out, my address in their records was an old one and that is why I did not get the cheque.

The email asked me to send the new address if it had changed which I promptly did. I got a response confirming receipt of the new address and that I should contact a certain person with such and such telephone number in case I did not receive the cheque after ten days.

After ten days I contacted the person and asked him about the cheque. He said it had been sent by Registered Post and that I should get it in the next 2-3 days. I waited for 5 days. No sign of the cheque. I called the guy again. He was surprised that I had not yet got it. He asked me to call back the next day and he would enquire about it.

The next day when I reached home, my cook told me that the post man had come home with a registered  post cover and refused to give it to her. He insisted that only I collect it. He left a message asking me to come to the post office to collect it. No mention of which post office. No mention of who to meet and when. Just come to the post office and collect it.

I was lost. I had no idea what to do. The cheque amount was non-insignificant. I had to do something.

I mustered all the courage I could and went to the General Post Office at Rashtrapathi Road in Secunderabad. The building looks quite majestic from outside. Only when you go in do you realize that it is a fit case for the saying, "Paina pataram, lona lotaram"!

There is an Enquiry counter inside. I went up to it and asked the person behind the desk where I could pick up registered post? Without as much as a look back, he said "Go inside". Well, wasn't I already? I figured he meant really deep inside the maze that the office was. There some counters with monstrous lines in the front with an almost hidden entrance to the "inside".

I went through. There were dozens of tables with people behind them animatedly scribbling away on papers with dog ears. Not one computer in sight! I had to ask random people on the way where the Registered Post delivery was made. After listening to contradictory responses and going back and forth "inside" and "outside", I finally met one man, deep inside, that asked me, what I thought was the first relevant question in my adventure.

"Which area do you live in?"

"Balamrai", I responded.

"Oh, vaadu elipoindu", the guy responded, adding that the concerned person left at 11 in the morning. That was a first, I thought to myself. I have heard of truant and lazy government servants. This took the cake. I realized later, however, that I had to basically meet the same postman that delivers letters to my house and that he is usually there in the post office from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and I had to come at that time the following day if I had any hope of getting my cheque.

Cut to the following day. I confidently walked to the same room and asked a totally random person in there where I could colect Registered Post for Balamrai. "No. 30", he responded. I asked around where No. 30 was and was directed to a post man sitting on a desk that had a small label that said "30" inside a shelf on the desk. So much for "No. 30"!

I asked him about the cover and he promptly pulled it out and made me sign the Receipt paper. To his credit, he did not ask me for a tip. I was totally shocked!

A few questions still remain unanswered in my mind:

1. How did any random person I asked about where I could collect my cover have an answer? How come no one said I don't know?

2. Why can't they have one section for uncollected registered post with a big sign board that says so where anyone can go and collect their post?

3. Why didn't the postman tell my cook that I had to come to the GPO at R.P. Road between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m.?

4. Why does LIC have to send cheques by registered post when almost the whole world uses private courier companies to deliver cheques?

5. In fact, why can't LIC have a direct credit to bank account option?

6. And finally, why, oh why, did my parents take an LIC policy for me?

My AJKD article, "Taking the Uncharted Path" is now available as a podcast! You can find the podcast here.



Thanks to Dr. Sidharth Sethi for posting about the podcast on his website and also letting me know about it. I had no clue! By the way, thanks also Dr. Sethi for complimenting my voice. And you haven't even heard me sing! Hahahaha!

I have been a part of two startups. Effigent and NephroPlus. I have seen both these companies from scratch. There is one thing that I have seen in both. The identity of the company is often shaped by the first few employees in the company.

I find this to be universally true because the management can do only so much in shaping the attitude and behavior of the team. Though the overall guidelines can be given, values and missions stated, unless the first set of hires really believes in them and adopts them genuinely, it is very difficult for the rest of the hires to do so.

That is why the first set of hires is so important!

At Effigent, we were really lucky to get someone called Neelapalla Srinivas as one of the first few employees. He was an amazing guy. Technically solid. Amazing attitude. He would help the juniors come up to speed, spend time with them, coach them. Not only did this help the juniors in grasping programming concepts the right way but it also encouraged them to help others at work. This attitude in everyone was one of the most liked by the Effigent team. The folks that joined later carried on this legacy much after Srinivas left.

At NephroPlus, Sara the nurse that was hired in the early stages set the standards in nursing care at NephroPlus. The NephroPlus standard of care was informally institutionalized by her. She walks out all the patients after dialysis holding their bags and seeing them off. This is one of the many things that patients love at NephroPlus - personalized, homely care. Today, as Sara moves on to bigger challenges, her impact will not be lost. Nurses after her must adhere to the same standards that have been set.

Fortunately the managements of both these companies strongly believed in the values that the first few employees were torch bearers of! And the companies were fortunate enough to get these people to actually help realize their dreams.