Manjari and I are not exactly well-versed in Kannada or Telugu, which were the most commonly spoken languages in the ward. We were fortunate to find 12 year old Naveen, who spoke these languages, as well as English, fluently. Every time we went, he gladly helped us communicate with the other children and their parents. He soon became our translator.

Our yoga teacher, Swami Yogaratna, in particular, found his skills extremely helpful, especially when delivering her signature line: “Now, stop, and notice how you feel.” Naveen would stop, think, notice how he felt, and translate for the others.

We were very happy to have him around. Naveen was discharged in July, and assured us that he would come back and visit. We gave him a big hug and told him thatit was good news, and he didn’t need to come back to the ward, as he had gone into remission and that he should work and hope to recovering completely.

We are now a translator short. Hopefully everyone else will be able to understand us well enough, in time.