A poem for Carers Week 2024.
It is Carers Week this week
Today I joined bereaved carers outing in Tropical World
About ten of us , mostly middle age women and one young man
There are smiles of a knowing, we are all going through the same
A calm meandering through the tropical humidity of waterfalls and animals who are just being
Whilst most of us are grieving for the departed loved one
There is an air of kindness and compassion flowing out of the sad faces, connected by our common humanity
The time!
Bye everyone, hope we meet again
I drive off to meet my two Carer Buddies and we zoom off to Anands in Hyde Park
The mood is up, up, up, we escapees!
We arrive to the flavours of the ‘Motherland’
How many starters, oh yes those puff balls with spicy filling and tamarind water, put the whole one in your mouth and munch the crunch
Oh the dosa, the puris, the bengan bertha, the thali
Bring it on, cut, pass, talk talk, familiar flavours rolling off the tongue
Oh the burden of being a carer, we do it because we love them, but we need a life too, break away, enjoy
Pass the chutney, pass the poppadum, so full
But we must have a desert, that green one, and yes the gulab jamun, warm, spongy, syrupy, cardamon flavour, melts in the mouth
Full of food, full of laughter, full of life, totally revived
Oh damn it, I should have had the rose falooda
Never mind, there is always the next time!
Dr Kiran Kalsi, an unpaid carer for her mum.
