How Brave was Mrs. Twizzle?

Mrs. Twizzle, my landlady was a very remarkable person. When I left Newcastle in August 1957, she was in good health and bade me farewell most affectionately. So when I was in Newcastle again in 1969 after 12 years, I wanted to see her and spend some time with her. I went to her house and found her standing at the doorstep talking to some body but she did not show any signs of recognising me. I myself doubted if I had come to the wrong person. So I accosted her, “Am I speaking to Mrs. Twizzel?” Then her face brightened up and she welcomed me cheerfully, “Oh. Dr. Rao at last. How are your wife and brother? Please do come in”. We went into her drawing room and talked about the good old days. After some time she said to my surprise “What a fine doctor you are. Do you not realise that I am now perfectly blind.”

I was shocked. I asked her how it was that she was living alone when she had a son and a daughter who were married and well off. She replied quite cheerfully, “Oh, they have their own problems. They send me flowers on my birthday and Christmas. They cannot possibly come and live here nor could I go to live with them”. I asked, “Who cooks for you?” She replied, “Of course, I cook for myself. You do not know how much a blind person can do. Now and then I do get a finger a little burnt. I don’t mind it, it is all in the game.” Her seventy year old lady neighbour helped her shopping. The District Nurse would visit her once a week and tidy her up and arrange an ambulance to take her to the hospital whenever necessary. All the while there was not trace of self-pity or sorrow on her face.

When finally I took leave of her she asked me not to disturb any furniture in the room. She did not want to bump into her furniture as she groped about her room with its familiar setting. Years later, when I related her story in a radio talk, I had a number of enquiries whether it was a true story or one concocted for the occasion. When she was seriously ill in 1975, she asked her neighbour to write to us conveying her good wishes and that she always remembered us in her prayers. Till then she never missed sending us greeting cards herself every Christmas. She died soon.

–From ‘WITH NO UGLY SCARS’ – Life Story of Late Dr. B. Dayananda Rao, a neuro surgeon written by himself.

Alexander’s Love of Literature

When a Persian gold casket studded with precious stones was brought to Alexander by his soldiers from among the spoils of King Darius, who was defeated in battle, and the soldiers suggested that it should be used to carry his wine, Alexander smiled and decided that such a priceless possession should be used as a receptacle for Homer’s ILIAD, but not for any lesser purpose. He always carried Homer’s ILIAD wherever he travelled.