MIND YOUR NECK
The easiest way to kill a human being as we all know is to severe the head from the body in other words cut the throat so the brain cannot communicate with the body. History tells us that soldiers fought with swords and went about chopping the heads off the enemy or getting their heads chopped off instead. In most countries murderers were beheaded or hung by the neck until they died.
The neck is the only way for the brain to connect to the whole body as all nerves from the brain have to pass through the neck to the body and also all major blood vessels that feed and keep the brain alive, have to pass through the neck.
So Killers either chop the head off or go for the jugular by cutting the throat.
1971 - It was my very first job as an engineer after graduating as a Civil Engineer. I was a trainee in the Tamil Nadu Slum board that builds small apartments in 3 storey buildings for the really poor people in the metro. I had to report to a Junior Engineer and his boss an Assistant Engineer. Both these bosses stayed in a make shift office and gas bagged all day with the contractor building the block of units. The Contractor provided them everyday with amazing food from the best restaurants in the area plus endless supply of coffee, tea, chocolates, biscuit and cigarettes luring them away from supervising the construction activity.
They told me not to take my job too seriously as the contractor was well established in the department and had a lot of political clout too. When I joined they had completed the first floor slab and the load bearing brickwork had started for the first floor.
The first day I spent my time watching them mixing the mortar to the correct ratio of 1:3 ( One Bag of Cement to 3 bags of sand). Every one did everything possible to get me away from there so they could go about their merry way of adding 10 parts of sand to 1 part of cement. They told me there was a phone call for me in the office when there was none. The JE and AE were always summoning me to the office under one pretext or the other.
To get around the problem of me closely watching them mixing of the mortar in correct proportions, I was told by one of the women labourers that the cement mortar, which was being carried on their heads by the women to the first floor; was being remixed with a load of sand upstairs. Then suddenly it was time to go home and I had not eaten or even had a glass of water all day.
I got on my bike and pedalled home disappointed with what was going on.
The second day I positioned my self on the fist floor slab from where I could see the cement mortar being mixed at the ground level and my presence on the first floor slab meant they could not add more sand to the mortar.
The Morning flew by and suddenly there was intense pressure for me to join the engineers for a Biriyani lunch and I had to as the Boss was yelling out himself asking me to come down. I was given a pep talk to take things easy as the contractor will lose money if he did everything by the book blah blah blah.
After lunch I went up again and started checking the quality of the wall construction. The brick wall was about 3 feet high and on checking the verticality of the wall I realised the wall was leaning outwards by 3 inches. This was not on, as it was their job to make sure the wall was plumb vertical. I looked at the ground to make sure there was no one in the vicinity put my right foot of the fresh wall where the mortar was still green and gave it one big shove sending the entire brick work to the ground. The Contractor came and yelled at me asking me what the hell I was doing. The asst engineer reprimanded me and told me he would report me to the Chief Engineer. It was time to go home. I got on my bike and started pedalling home my mind clouded with the happenings of the day.
KNIFE TO MY THROAT -1
Suddenly I was over taken by 2 cyclists on either side and they blocked me forcing me to brake and stop. One fellow jumped off his bicycle and put a sharp knife to my throat and threatened to slash my throat and that this was a warning not to come back to work again. It was then I observed that what was held to my throat was the same knife used on the construction site to cut the cement bags. The men had been despatched by the Contractors to shake me up but not injure me as I was a new broom trying to sweep well. I spent the next three days sitting in the office doing some bogus paperwork that the AE gave me. I quit my job after just one week.
They won & I lost out to corrupt officials.
PAMBAN BRIDGE RAMESWARAM
My next job was as a Junior Engineer, Pamban Investigation Division. I must say I had a good time in this job as I reported directly to the Superintending Engineer himself bypassing the Assistant Engineer and the Divisional Engineer. When my Superintending Engineer was transferred I got shunted out to Rameswaram as a Junior Engineer-Pamban Bridge Construction. The Contract for the Bridge construction was about to be awarded but it was my job the get the approach roads to the bridge on the Pamban site ready.
This time round my own bosses the Asst Engineer and Divisional Engineers were my problem. I was expected to collect blood money from the petty subcontractors used to build the approach roads and pass it on to the bosses as was the norm before I joined and I was also expected to create bogus bills for work not done and submit to the AE and DE for approval.
My attitude was "Over my Dead Body". I did my job and the contractors were happy to get paid for the work they had done and became my friends. This angered the DE very much as he had lost his clout and once when he abused a worker in foul language the worker threatened to hit the DE with his Shovel if he said another word.
Of course I was blamed for having encouraged the labourers to turn against the Divisional Engineeer my Boss..
KNIFE TO MY THROAT -2
One evening after work I biked 20 kilometres on a bumpy unsurfaced road back to my room showered and took a walk to the mess to get some dinner. An unknown chap pulled out a knife and pressed it against my throat on a public street and many people passing by saw this but kept walking as they did not want to get drawn into this feud. He, a local thug, had been hired by my own boss to give me a stern warning.
"Either shape up and do what I was told or I'd be killed and fed to the sharks in the sea never to be found again" was the Warning
A month or so later two good samaritans my Peon Muniayya and Road Inspector Madasamy, spent the night with me guarding me. packed my belongings escorted me out from my room and put me on a train back to Madras and they accompanied me too up to Ramanathpuram like body guards.
On the train they told me that there were sinister plans to bump me off and throw the body to the sharks as I was being a pain in the Back side.
20 long years later I visited Rameswaram in 1994 and met the good samaritans who were responsible for me leaving Rameswaram and India for that matter, to a good honest life in Sydney Australia.
YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE WHAT IS COMING NEXT.
Believe it or Not, I definitely had this experience in my rented house in Rameswaram.
The one year I was there in Rameswaram was a nightmare and some one up there was watching over me all the time and despatched many Godsends to keep an eye on me.
Most of the old houses in Rameswaram in the seventies were terrace houses about 25 feet wide with a long passage or corridor from front all the way to the back, with room after room with doors opening inwards into the rooms from the corridor. In the front was an open verandah with a one metre high platform about 8 feet deep 12 feet wide. Often used for relaxing in the evenings watching the goings on on the street and getting some cool air on summer nights.
On hot nights this was the preferred place to sleep. The back door opened into a back yard which always had a water well and right at the back were located the open toilets.
The house we rented had an attic room in front and you had to go up a ladder and the door to the attic room was on the floor slab. I had to push the door up into the room and climb into the room. My colleague, his wife and child and mother lived downstairs which had two bedrooms and a kitchen one after the other.
The Engineers who were living there before we moved in cautioned us that there was a "Muni" or a Ghost living on the Palm Tree in the Back yard. That he was generally a Good Ghost and did not harm any one but he did not like any body lying in the corridor with the feet pointed towards the entrance to the house.
Just a representative Image
One Could not see the Muni or smell the Muni as he had no form they told me but you can feel his presence and he can even pick you up and throw you to the ground I was told.
I thought to my self what Cock and Bull story in this modern age. But then, when I went to bed upstairs to my room with one window that had steel bars and just one door on the floor to exit and turned the lights off, my thoughts invariably drifted to the Muni living in the Palm tree at the back of the house. I made sure I slept in a perpendicular direction so I did not point my feet to the front or to the back of the house..
I thought to my self what Cock and Bull story in this modern age. But then, when I went to bed upstairs to my room with one window that had steel bars and just one door on the floor to exit and turned the lights off, my thoughts invariably drifted to the Muni living in the Palm tree at the back of the house. I made sure I slept in a perpendicular direction so I did not point my feet to the front or to the back of the house..
Six seven months went by and we had settled comfortably in the house, me the bachelor boy going upstairs only to sleep. One common past time was to go see a movie at the local Cinema Tent. I'd go with some co workers for the 9.30pm show after dinner. Come back around 1.30 or 2.00am. Knock on the door and my friend would let me in or leave the main door unbolted so I just had to push the heavy wooden door in to find my way up the ladder into my bed room, where the bed was a mattress and pillows thrown on the floor.
One night I returned from the movie with Narayanan who was the cleaner for all our Tipper Trucks. The main door was locked and we knocked gently so we did not wake up my colleagues baby but he was in deep sleep and just would not open the door for us.
It was already 2.40am and Narayan said "Sir, lets not disturb him, I'll borrow a bed sheet and pillow from neighbours and we just lie down for a few hours in the Thinnai ( raised Platform) and leave at 5.00am to catch the first train out of Rameswaram to get to the work site" and I agreed, after all he was also there and it will be two of us. We lay down, on either side of the passageway, with out feet pointing to the road in the front open verandah on the raised platform.
DEATH RIDES MY THROAT / NECK
DEATH RIDES MY THROAT / NECK
I fell asleep and went into deep sleep immediately and started dreaming. My younger sister Manju (now a General Surgeon) was in my dream. All of a sudden she sat on my chest and started to choke me. I thought she was being silly and play full and kept telling her to get off my chest and stop choking me. It got worse and worse and she would not stop and I was sweating from head to foot. I started screaming loud in my sleep.
Next thing I know was that Narayan who was sleeping on the other side of the passageway heard me, got up and came and shook me and said "Sir Wake up you are having a bad dream". I woke up and he switched the torch light on and said Sir you have been sweating badly as the bed sheet is wet with sweat.. I remember telling him I don't know what happened but my younger sister was sitting on my chest and choking me by the neck and would not stop.
Soon after we got up and walked to the railway station to catch our train. Narayan observed that my neck was red as if I had been strangled but I did not think about this any more.
To me it was just a bad dream IMHO, then.
On hind sight "No"
To me it was just a bad dream IMHO, then.
On hind sight "No"
That evening on my return my colleague told me his mother found it too warm in her bed room so came and slept in the passage way and he said do you know what happened
"The Muni Choked her last night around 3.00am and she is terrified and has been crying all day and wants to pack up and go back home to Madras".
I was not at all surprised as I was choked around the same time, the only difference was that his mother was awake in bed and I was asleep. I related my experience and we all agreed that we had offended the muni and he was not a happy little Vegemite.
We had also been warned that if the muni ever attacks us we'd die within a month.
My colleagues mother died after 3 weeks but I survived
"The Muni Choked her last night around 3.00am and she is terrified and has been crying all day and wants to pack up and go back home to Madras".
I was not at all surprised as I was choked around the same time, the only difference was that his mother was awake in bed and I was asleep. I related my experience and we all agreed that we had offended the muni and he was not a happy little Vegemite.
We had also been warned that if the muni ever attacks us we'd die within a month.
My colleagues mother died after 3 weeks but I survived
Believe it or Not.
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Surgery Aborted in 1982:
I had checked into Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney 1982 for a simple Nose surgery for Septum Deviation as I was suffering from blocked nose all the time. The doctor told me it is a very simple and straight forward surgery and will take max 30 minutes and you should be back in the ward in 2 hours. I was wheeled into the theatre around 1.00pm. My wife Mithu was in the ward and said she hang around and see me when I came back to the ward.
It was 7.30pm and nobody would tell her what happened but just told her I was in recovery. By the time I was back in the ward around 10.30pm I was very groggy and told her to take a cab and go home straight away and she did.
It was 7.30pm and nobody would tell her what happened but just told her I was in recovery. By the time I was back in the ward around 10.30pm I was very groggy and told her to take a cab and go home straight away and she did.
Around 2.00am the night nurse came to check on me. Checked my BP and temperature. She was a nurse from Kerala and we started talking and after the prelim intros she told me, I am not supposed to tell you this, "They almost lost you in the theatre you know" You did not have the surgery. They knocked you out but could not intubate you because of a narrow airway and you stopped breathing and they struggled to bring you back to life.
Believe you have a very small jaw and a very very narrow airway in the neck
Believe you have a very small jaw and a very very narrow airway in the neck
I thought to myself "OMG Not my Neck again"
My neck/throat problem started with a Neck damage from a fall into a ditch in Port Blair, followed by a misdiagnosed Whooping cough as a kid and a neck strangulating attack by a Ghost in 1974 and now got told I have an extremely narrow airway making intubation very difficult. What next ?
My neck/throat problem started with a Neck damage from a fall into a ditch in Port Blair, followed by a misdiagnosed Whooping cough as a kid and a neck strangulating attack by a Ghost in 1974 and now got told I have an extremely narrow airway making intubation very difficult. What next ?
I had the nose surgery done in 1985 by another ENT surgeon who was aware of the complication with intubation and had three anaesthetists to assist him. They too had severe problems as I was gagging and kicking and struggling even though I had been knocked out senseless.
Next thing I knew was, I was woken up in the theatre on the operation table and I see the surgeon with his head gear and mask and he is Telling me "Ram we are finding it impossible to intubate you, so we are now going to make you inhale something that will make your throat go numb and you will be awake and feel you are not swallowing but you will be swallowing so don't panic and have a heart attack on us. We need to give you this local anaesthesia for the throat so we can intubate you". I nodded.
Surgery was done and I survived but was told to wear a medical bracelet warning about my problems with intubation for anaesthesia and to ask for awake anaesthesia every time before any surgery..
Next thing I knew was, I was woken up in the theatre on the operation table and I see the surgeon with his head gear and mask and he is Telling me "Ram we are finding it impossible to intubate you, so we are now going to make you inhale something that will make your throat go numb and you will be awake and feel you are not swallowing but you will be swallowing so don't panic and have a heart attack on us. We need to give you this local anaesthesia for the throat so we can intubate you". I nodded.
Surgery was done and I survived but was told to wear a medical bracelet warning about my problems with intubation for anaesthesia and to ask for awake anaesthesia every time before any surgery..
Damn Muni/Ghost Definitely damaged my throat.
By 1989 I had gained some weight and was snoring badly and had developed hypertension. I would have a good night sleep but would fall asleep the minute I sat down comfortably on a sofa even watching news or current affairs.
My son was down with a FLU and I took him to the 24 hour medical centre around 7.00pm. There were many patients who got there before me so it was going to be a long wait. I sat down on a sofa with my son. Next thing I remember was that the doctor was tapping me on my shoulder trying to wake me up.
"I had fallen asleep on the sofa in the clinic.
As we walked to his room the doctor asked me do you fall asleep like this always?. I said yes even though a have good sleep at nights I tend to fall asleep when I relax on a sofa.
"Do you snore? " he asked. I said I don't know but my wife does complain that my snoring is getting louder and louder.
"What you have is called Sleep Apnea which means that several times in an hour you stop breathing, deprive the brain of oxygen and then the body goes into a shock and jerks to wake you up so you will breathe again." he said.
I was one of Dr Sullivan's first group of Sleep Apnea patients who underwent trials and I have had to use a CPAP Mask for 30 years now. Perhaps a Guinness Book Record. I just cannot go to bed without a CPAP Mask put on my face.
A CPAP Machine pumps out air with "Constant Positive Airway Pressure". CPAP Machines can pump out air at 1 to 20 cms of Water Pressure and can be adjusted to suit the patients air pressure requirement to keep the airways open.
So my sleep apnea was caused by a narrow airway in the neck.
Damn the muni that choked my neck in my sleep and I have a permanent Narrow airway now
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1998 - Gastroscopy in Liverpool hospital by Gastroenterologist Dr Chris Low. Anaesthetist Dr Bhaska and my GP and good friend Dr Suresh Nair.
By 1989 I had gained some weight and was snoring badly and had developed hypertension. I would have a good night sleep but would fall asleep the minute I sat down comfortably on a sofa even watching news or current affairs.
My son was down with a FLU and I took him to the 24 hour medical centre around 7.00pm. There were many patients who got there before me so it was going to be a long wait. I sat down on a sofa with my son. Next thing I remember was that the doctor was tapping me on my shoulder trying to wake me up.
"I had fallen asleep on the sofa in the clinic.
As we walked to his room the doctor asked me do you fall asleep like this always?. I said yes even though a have good sleep at nights I tend to fall asleep when I relax on a sofa.
"Do you snore? " he asked. I said I don't know but my wife does complain that my snoring is getting louder and louder.
"What you have is called Sleep Apnea which means that several times in an hour you stop breathing, deprive the brain of oxygen and then the body goes into a shock and jerks to wake you up so you will breathe again." he said.
I was one of Dr Sullivan's first group of Sleep Apnea patients who underwent trials and I have had to use a CPAP Mask for 30 years now. Perhaps a Guinness Book Record. I just cannot go to bed without a CPAP Mask put on my face.
A CPAP Machine pumps out air with "Constant Positive Airway Pressure". CPAP Machines can pump out air at 1 to 20 cms of Water Pressure and can be adjusted to suit the patients air pressure requirement to keep the airways open.
So my sleep apnea was caused by a narrow airway in the neck.
Damn the muni that choked my neck in my sleep and I have a permanent Narrow airway now
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1998 - Gastroscopy in Liverpool hospital by Gastroenterologist Dr Chris Low. Anaesthetist Dr Bhaska and my GP and good friend Dr Suresh Nair.
One afternoon I had gone to watch a game of indoor cricket my friends were playing after a big lunch. One of the players did not show tup, so I was asked if I would play. Ofcourse I said. Those few overs of cricket took the life out of me as it was at an extremely fast pace and I came out of the nets and collapsed and then threw up.
I assumed I was having a heart attack. Fortunately there were two doctors in the team. they checked me out and declared it was caused by Reflux and a hiatus hernia which I was asked to get checked out.
I told the doctors about my intubation problems and they said don't worry as we have done this hundreds of times. They knocked me out but just could not intubate me. So the same old story they had to give me local anaesthesia for my throat and performed the endoscopy as quickly as they could as I was gagging badly and also kicked my GP friend badly in the groin in the process. Tests showed had I had GERD or Reflux oesophageal ulcers and a Hiatus hernia and was prescribed Losec to lower the acidity of stomach secretions.
Sadly to this day I have no clue how narrow my airway in my NECK is.
I assumed I was having a heart attack. Fortunately there were two doctors in the team. they checked me out and declared it was caused by Reflux and a hiatus hernia which I was asked to get checked out.
I told the doctors about my intubation problems and they said don't worry as we have done this hundreds of times. They knocked me out but just could not intubate me. So the same old story they had to give me local anaesthesia for my throat and performed the endoscopy as quickly as they could as I was gagging badly and also kicked my GP friend badly in the groin in the process. Tests showed had I had GERD or Reflux oesophageal ulcers and a Hiatus hernia and was prescribed Losec to lower the acidity of stomach secretions.
Sadly to this day I have no clue how narrow my airway in my NECK is.
