RIP Dr Baskaran

Today is indeed a sad day. Half an hour after I got up this morning, I found out that a dear, dear orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Baskaran Subramaniam was gone. He was my parents' surgeon. He operated my Dad's knee and with the help of a super talented colleague from KL, revised my Mum's botched hip replacement. He was the face of good medicine in Sabah. I met him when I came home nearly two years ago. To me, he seemed friendly and steady. Lately, whenever we drive pass the site for the new Gleneagles Hospital, my heart would skip a beat thinking that may be Dr Baskaran might leave QE II soon to become a doctor for the rich. I was worried that my Mum will be in the hands of lousy doctors. Now that he really is gone, I could only pray that she will be looked after by another orthopaedic surgeon as passionate as Dr Baskaran. 

I am currently working as a substitute teacher at a very large kindergarten. I am teaching in a class of over 65 children with the help of 3 other teachers. It is chaos everyday. I wish to continue blogging about my trip to Singapore but it looks like it won't happen anytime soon. This gig is really a big culture shock for me. It is so incredibly sad that children are still taught like back in the 70's or worse... I found myself thanking God that I am not raising any little ones and having to send them to such a school. Even though I have always yearned to have my own family but since working in this job, I have been glad that I don't have one. When I came home in 2011, I suspected that the schools here could be pretty grim and was full of hope that I could improve the situation but now I am not sure if the locals would like any change. I think they enjoy what they have now. Due to something that happened yesterday, today was the hardest. I will let them know that I will help until the end of April tomorrow. I will say that it is my loss.