CURRENTS is the official newsletter of the Credit River PROBUS Club. It is published monthly and emailed to members to keep them abreast of club activities and to promote the club’s central objectives. Submissions are welcome as are new ideas and should be emailed to Lydia Koop, lydia04@rogers.com.
President’s Message
To Feel Alive
In a recent interview with the Globe and Mail’s Jonathan Dekel, the famed American entertainer Mandy Patinkin was asked about the role that art, and specifically music, plays in keeping people connected. “To feel alive”, he said. “That’s what it’s about. Music, storytelling, dance, theatre. It’s all there to remind us of what it means to be human.”
Studies have shown that feeling connected, feeling part of a community, is one of the vital needs shared by all of us. At the end of the 1986 movie Stand by Me, the narrator says, “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?” Perhaps that is the same for all of us – the book, song, the friend that we experienced when we were young and coming into our teens has remained the one artifact that has the power to take us back, to continually resonate in our lives.
Desert Island Discs is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first aired on January 29, 1942 and continues to this day. Each week a guest, called a “castaway”, is asked to choose eight audio recordings (usually, but not always, music), a book, and a luxury item that they would like to take if they were to be cast away on a desert island, whilst discussing their life and the reasons for their choices. If we were to be a guest on this program, odds are that we would choose a song, book, etc. that is filled with memories, possibly of an earlier time, something that “takes us back.” If a song were to be chosen, it could be jazz, movie music, classic rock, classical, folk, or country. The most requested piece of music from the show’s first 60 years was Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. If you were a “castaway”, what would you choose?
Perhaps our choice would also reflect our ancestry. Patinkin again: “Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, let the sounds of your ancestry pour over you… it will take you somewhere beyond words.” So, whether our artistic choice reflects a specific time in our lives, or a place, or a person, art of any kind has the power to bring us all together in a shared human space. And being a member of a Probus club has the same power – bringing together all of us with shared goals and interests.
Have a look: From the Spanish city of Sabadell: a flash mob rendition of Beethoven’s Ode an die Freude (Ode to Joy). Skip the opening commercial; video is 5:40.
In the previous edition of Currents, the President’s Message talked about the potential benefits and joys of talking with strangers. Do you have a story about a time when you spoke with a stranger and came to realize the good feeling that came with that encounter?
Perhaps you interacted in a store, a parking lot, a lobby, on a plane, or in a meeting. Somewhere, somehow, did you talk with a stranger and now have a story that you would like to share with your fellow Credit River Probians? Something that shows that we are all in this thing together?
Each month, if you would like to share, we will feature your story in this space. Maximum length: around 300 words, but shorter is fine too. And you can sign it or be anonymous. Send your story to me: Bob Warren bob045@sympatico.ca
Below is our next story by Nancy Newton
How a Mt. Everest flight delay leads to expert medical treatment in India
In 1997, I took a semester off from my job to travel to Nepal and India with the goal of attending the Pushkar Camel Fair in Rajasthan. While in Nepal I wanted to experience the flight over Mt. Everest but had to wait in the airport as it was a cloudy morning. I struck up a conversation with Nicole, a French Canadian who worked at the Canadian Embassy in Delhi. She ended up inviting me to get in touch when I got there and come for dinner.
I continued my travels to India, moving South into Goa, but while there began to experience a series of unusual symptoms: sore neck, rapid changes from hot to cold flashes, etc. I thought it might be a dental issue but a fellow guest, a dentist, examined me and said that was not the issue. Worried, I could see the trek to Pushkar at stake.
I travelled to Mumbai and was lucky enough to be seen by an IAMAT (International Association for Medical Assistance to Travellers) doctor who, despite it being the eve of Diwali, diagnosed me with a thyroid infection. I needed to see an endocrinologist! WHERE was I going to find one?? I decided to try and contact Nicole in Delhi for help. The Canadian Consulate in Mumbai was closed for the holiday! In desperation, I wrote Nicole a letter. It truly was a long shot that she would get it and then be able to help. Putting the letter under the door explaining my problem, I told her when I expected to reach Delhi. I had to hope it would be forwarded.
I got to Delhi; she had received the letter, and a well-known endocrinologist was waiting for me! How had she done this? She said they called from the embassy and said a famous Canadian needed his help, so he was on standby, and also an ophthalmologist, as a thyroid infection can damage your eyes.
The doctor sent me to a nearby hospital for testing, telling me to request the x-rays and that a written report be prepared for me to bring back! Such incredible service! Upon my return to his office, he said I was lucky; there was no eye damage and drugs would solve the problem.
A week later I was fine and on my way to Pushkar! Final bill, $40.00 Cdn! Pushkar was magical!
You can find this month’s complete issue and past editions of CURRENTS here.
Read your copy of CURRENTS or see the web to find out more about Activities, Events, and Travel in our club.
Direct comments about CURRENTS to Lydia Koop, lydia04@rogers.com. If you need to be sent another copy of CURRENTS please email crprobus@gmail.com.