Sister Stella

Early this morning granpa complained of wheezing and I made my first hospital visit in Pune. I was expecting to see some things different in Pune hospitals, based on the kind of customer service I have received so far, across the board. But guess what, the experience was exactly similar to what I have seen in Chennai all the time. The first person to greet us in the hospital was a Malayali nurse and true to my expectations she did everything right all through the day. It is always great for us mallus in Chennai because we see hordes of mallu nurses in any hospital we go. I was not really expecting that to happen in Pune. But from today's experience I think I can safely conclude that mallu women have made nursing their bastion everywhere.

Then I pondered why on earth mallu women do so well in nursing. Is it because they are more service-minded than women from other communities. That didn't sound right. No one can question the motherly qualities that women of every race hold. Does the literacy level of women in Kerala help make nursing easier to learn? May be not. More thought let me to conclude that the matriarchal system is what is responsible for this. The matriarchal system in Kerala is the reason for the empowerment of women in Kerala (we all know that Kerala has 1000+ women for every 1000 men). I know not all women empowerment experts would agree that women in Kerala are fully empowered. Nevertheless, nursing is a demanding profession and more than just service-mindedness the women need to be courageous. There is so much pressure, so much responsibility and very often you need to work really odd hours. All these require a level of maturity and boldness and I seriously believe it is here that mallu women score better. Comments?

Anyways for all non-mallus apart from the great service there is assured fun when they start talking in english. Listen to this audio-clip if you have not had any first hand experience so far.