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KIRAN SOOMRO UPDATE

Best option may be to continue current medicines

By Saswati Mukherjee B.

Bangalore doctors find Kiran Soomro inoperable

My dream for my Nana

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

By Sila Abdullah

At the hotel, waiting for test results. TOI photo

oung Kiran Soomro, who flew from Karachi to Bangalore with a lot of hope, is coming to terms with the fact that doctors at Narayana Health cant help her. Kiran, 17, reached the city on January 20 to get a hole in her heart fixed. However, after extensive tests, her heart was found to be inoperable. Doctors say she needs a heart-and-lung transplant. "Reports say her lungs are irreversibly damaged. In Bangalore, heart transplants are quite common but lung transplants havent happened so far. Weve suggested the names of a few hospitals in Chennai where transplants can be done. Kiran is heartbroken, Dr Devi Shetty, chairman of Narayana Health told TOI on Monday. "Kiran was initially keeping to herself and not talking much since she heard of the transplant," said her father, Sikander Ali Soomro. Later, however, she spent a good two hours on video chat with her five siblings in Karachi, giggling and in high spirits, said Konchadi Vasanth Pai, 82, an Aman ki Asha volunteer in Bangalore who visited the family on Monday with his laptop so that the family could use Skype to communicate with the children back home. Kirans condition was earlier evaluated as being a case for an open heart surgery, but after conducting an X-ray, echo and ECG, doctors said a transplant would be more feasible. However, there are many complications with that option, including waiting within a 12-hour proximity of a hospital that would be able to perform the operation, for months, or more, until a matching donor is found. The likelihood of a donor is greater in Chennai, where the number of brain-dead cases is higher than in Bangalore. "Preference is given to Indian nationals. We cannot register foreign nationals in Karnataka," said Manjula KU, chief transplant coordinator, Zonal Coordination Committee of Karnataka for Transplantation (ZCCK). Chennai also has several private agencies, public and NGOs that come together to successfully conduct transplants. "As soon as we

Kiran and her mother Shamshad soak in the Bangalore sun. They had just heard that the operation will not take place. Photo: Konchadi Vasanth Pai have a deceased (brain-dead) donor, we get in touch and perform the operation. It helps to have an alert team and organized channel," said Dr Sumana Navin, course director, Mohan Foundation, Chennai. All transplants in Chennai happen under the Cadaver Transplant Programme. VISA HURDLE If the transplant is to take place, the Soomro family will have to contend with another issue: they only have a visa for Bangalore and will have to obtain a long-term visa for medical treatment in Chennai. Obtaining a visa is not easy, but thats the least of the problems," says Samir Gupta, a volunteer with Aman ki Asha, a joint initiative between The Times of India and Jang Group in Pakistan. The economics of treating Kiran are also getting complex. While bills could shoot up from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 20 lakh if the transplant happens, she will need medicines worth over Rs 10,000 each month after the procedure. "We had arranged for Rs 2 lakh, but the amount of Rs 20 lakh makes it a little difficult. There are logistical problems too, as the family will have to stay back for an uncertain period in India," said O.P . Khanna, the Rotary coordinator for this project. Post-op care for transplant cases requires a long-term commitment for bi-monthly visits for check-ups to the hospital where the transplant takes place. Most dauntingly, the survival rate of heart lung transplant cases is not very high. AKA and Rotary volunteers are exploring other options. Top cardiologists in India, America and other countries to whom scanned copies of Kirans reports were sent, say that the most feasible scenario appears to be for her to continue with the medications she was prescribed in Delhi last May. These medicines have improved her overall condition and quality of life considerably and may well allow her to live a reasonably healthy life for some years. Well take a call based on what is best for her health," said Aman ki Asha (India) volunteer Samir Gupta. Nitu Jiwnani, 26, Kirans friend and a classical dancer in Mumbai, says that Kiran says that she doesnt mind as long as she is not bed-ridden. I want to learn to dance, Kiran told her. "Were ready to go anywhere as long as we know Kiran will get better," said an emotional Sikander. The father, who sells chips for a living back in Karachi, has only one prayer on his lips: that his eldest child gets well soon.

arel, Dadar, Railway Colony I feel as if Ive lived in these places. But the truth is that I havent visited them even once in my lifetime. Yet theyre etched in my mind as my grandfather speaks of them often. My mothers father, my Nana Saheb, Muhammad Zakiullah Sharif, 73, always shares with me his childhood spent in India as he walks down memory lane. He was born in Nagpur, where he spent the first few years of his life. He often speaks of Nagpurs oranges (sangtra). His father worked for the Railway Department, Nagpur but was then transferred to Bombay. There, my Nana lived in Parel for about eight years. He refers to those years as the best days of his life. Playing with his friends, going to Chowpatty with family, enjoying the rains, going to school in local trains, and related incidents. There was a park, where the workers of Parel workshop used to rest at lunchtime. I remember seeing their wives and children bringing lunch to them, he reminisces. Those rains, I remember, I and my brother, we used to leave early to enjoy the rains. And wed get scolded by our mother if we ended up drenched. After the partition of India, my Nana moved to Karachi. He worked in Dawn newspaper for years. Since retiring, he lives with us in Dubai. He speaks of Nagpur and Mumbai often, missing his childhood so much! He really wants to visit India. And all I want is to take my Nana there, to visit Mumbai and Nagpur once in his lifetime, and revisit his childhood memories. If I can help him to fulfill his dream, Ill be the happiest of all. The writer is a 15-year old student in Dubai

Memories Milne Do

Cross-LoC trade can promote peace - J&K Joint CCI

Two slabs of marble from Lahore

he Jammu and Kashmir Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry has urged the governments of India and Pakistan to promote trade across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir by easing restrictions on travel, communication and meeting of traders, expanding the list of tradeable items, and setting up the necessary infrastructure to support the trade. The Joint Chamber is the first ever institution of cross-LoC collaboration. It includes representatives

have been mandated to facilitate the elections as Election Commissioners on either side of the LoC respectively. The Joint Chamber expressed serious concern about the latest standoff on cross LoC trade, following the Indian authorities arrest of a Pakistani driver for smuggling brown sugar. The matter must be thoroughly probed, the results shared with the concerned stakeholders, and it must be resolved in a speedy and transparent manner according to the Standard Operat-

Its good to hear that the Punjab government plans to renovate the historic tomb of Bhai Vasti Ram. Now if only visas were easer

By Waseem Altaf

Cross-LoC trade: Install truck scanners at entry points of chambers of commerce, elected business entities and cross-LoC trade associations and unions connected with trade in the region. Joint Chamber members from both sides at their annual meeting in Kuala Lumpur signed a landmark agreement on reforms within the Chamber, including transition of leadership and a democratic electoral process. It is telling that the meeting had to be held outside the region due to the difficulty in obtaining visas. Conciliation Resources, a London based peacebuilding organization facilitated the meeting along with its regional partners. Senior journalists from either side, Ershad Mahmud and Zafar Choudhary, ing Procedure governing this trade. Those involved in misdoings should not be allowed to derail this historical CBM, said Chamber members. The Pakistani and Indian authorities must also immediately facilitate the return of the stranded drivers. The Joint Chamber should be made part of the clearance process for registering traders on both sides of the LoC, said members, reiterating the urgency of installing truck scanners at entry points for cross LoC trade. The process of cross-LoC trade has the potential to be a strong confidence building measure (CBM), promoting peace amongst the regions of Jammu and Kashmir as well as between India and Pakistan.

n December 27, 2013, at 2 pm, my friend Amits mobile phone rang in Amritsar. It was somebody wanting to deliver a carton that had just arrived from across the border in Pakistan. Amit already knew what it was, but his excitement peaked as he opened the consignment. My friend Amit Singh Rajat Gauri from Amritsar is the eighth direct descendent of Bhai Vasti Ram (1708-1802), the son of Bhai Bulaka Singh who is said to have accompanied Guru Gobind Singh to the south in 1707. He settled in Lahore after that journey. Amits family elders ensured that all their children were well aware of their roots and family values. Amits father, Balwinder Singh Gauri, would always stress that, as descendants of the saint that they must keep away from doing certain things. Amit particularly idolised his grandfather, Inder Singh, a bar-atlaw who was the principal of Khalsa College, Amritsar. At night, he would tell Amit stories of his family legacy, which he still remembers. As a child, he was particularly fascinated and thrilled by the stories of Bhai Vasti Ram, recreating them in his imagination. Thus began Amits lifelong quest to gather every bit of information about his ancestor. He placed a picture of Bhai

Untended and in disrepair: Bhai Vasi Rams Samadhi, Lahore

Amritsar: Amit Gauri and his son Saaz with a painting of Bhai Vasi Ram, now flanked by two marble slabs from his tomb Vasti Ram in his house, paying his Ganda Singh and Jhanda Singh. respect to his ancestor every day. Maharaja Ranjit Singh became Bhai Vasti Ram lived through the an ardent devotee early on. In his long period of persecution that the court, Bhai Vasti Ram enjoyed a staSikhs endured and their eventual tus higher than ministers and advisrise to political power in the Punjab. ers. The Maharaja often attributed Devoting himself to the study of his success in the battle of Bhasin medicine, he became famous for his (1800) and his subsequent hold skill in the use of indigenous herbs. over Lahore, to Bhai Vasti Rams He was deeply humanistic and guidance. treated his After Bhai Vasti Rams death in 1802 at the ripe age of 94, his devotees raised a samadhi embellished with white marble outside the Lahore Fort, facing the spot where he was cremated (where the Minar-e-Pakistan was later erected). Mams samadhi r of Bhai Vasi Ra haraja Ranjit Singh would visit the In ruins: interio patients free of charge. Stosamadhi every year at his death anries of his healing power and piety niversary. In 1992, after the Babri spread far and wide. mosque incident, a frenzied mob atBhai Vasti Ram was also well tacked and damaged this historic versed in Sikh scriptures and enstructure. joyed considerable influence in the Keen to visit the samadhi after Sikh community. Common people hearing this story from Amit, I got as well as important Sikh leaders the opportunity during a trip to Lawould visit him to seek his blesshore last month. My heart bled to ings. They included names venersee the state of the historic monuated by the Sikhs: Jassa Singh Ahlument. The structure lay in ruins and valia, Lahina Singh, Gujar Singh, the interior was devastated. Pieces

of marble that were once part of the tomb were piled up outside. I, and my dear friend Faiza Javed, a good photographer, took photographs of the samadhi from various angles. Then I picked up two carved slabs of marble. I knew that for us these were just stones, but for someone else they were a treasure a vestige of Bhai Vasti Ram. A few days later, thanks to the efforts of my dear friends Sohail Sajid and Dr Asma Riaz, the slabs of marble reached Amritsar. I had already informed Amit Rajat Gauri and his wife Neelu Malik Gauri of the gift they were about to receive. A wonderful couple, passing on humanistic values and traditions to their children Ragini and Saaz, they eagerly awaited it. As he touched the pieces of marble, tears trickled down his face. It was as if out of his sheer imagination something suddenly assumed the form of reality. Whatever he had heard and imagined about the saint converged in those stones - the linkage spanning over two hundred years had revived. It was a reunion of two generations two centuries apart. The following day, he had the slabs placed on specially designed wooden brackets in his drawing room. Amit was indebted and I was relieved, for stones, which had been lying rotting under the open sky had reached where they belonged. They were with someone to whom they were not just stones, someone who knows their true worth. To Amit, they are priceless treasures. Later, Amit told me that he felt as if the saint was present in his house guiding him at the subconscious level. Postscript: The Government of Punjab recently announced that it was allocating Rs 2.2 million to renovate the tomb of Bhai Vasti Ram. Let us hope that the building is restored in its original form and that the visa regime is relaxed between the India and Pakistan to allow cross-border devotees easy access to the final resting places of their saints. Waseem Altaf is a writer based in Rawalpindi. Email: mwaseemaltaf@hotmail.com

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A peace initiative whose time has come... Destination Peace: A commitment by the Jang Group, Geo and The Times of India Group to create an enabling environment that brings the people of Pakistan and India closer together, contributing to genuine and durable peace with honour between our countries.