In the first year or two after Sanju died, my body started keeping records my mind had not agreed to.
Both knees swollen, with no explanation any X-ray or MRI could offer.Consultations that all pointed to the same vague prescription: better nutrition, gentler exercise, more stretching. At one point my neck locked completely. I could not turn my head from right to left for months, and it took a few weeks of dedicated treatment just to unlock it again.
Grief was moving through my body in ways I had no vocabulary for at the time. This is where Dr. Ruchika and her team of physiotherapists came in. She worked through the pent up emotions, then sent me home with exercises to keep at it myself.
That acute phase passed. With better lifestyle habits and, eventually, simple cycling and cross-training at the gym, most of it resolved on its own.
These days, an occasional visit is usually about nothing more dramatic than a tennis elbow that has subsided, or the ordinary wear of a body that excessively types, writes, and carries on with an active life.
Dear Dr. Ruchika and Team,
Thank you for meeting me, again and again, wherever my body happened to be that month, without ever making me feel like a patient. Thank you for teaching me all the exercises I still carry with me, long after each visit ended. Thank you for the humour therapy too. That also helped and made me feel alive again.
With deep gratitude,
Shaweta