A poem out of Alzheimer's fortress

bangalore: five years of suffering along with her father made a poet out of dipannita bose. even as she sat up during those traumatic nights by the side of her father, who was wracked by uncontrollable alzheimer's disease, she decided to put pen to paper. a tribute to my father is a collection of those overwhelming emotions which the writers workshop decided to bring out as a book.for dipannita, it was an opportunity to stay connected with the world of alzheimer's. she will spend proceeds from the book for the treatment of alzheimer's patients. the book is not just poetry, but even has an opening section on how alzheimer's overpowers a human being, eating the person away regularly like a daily meal. something that could help many readers come to know about the basics of alzheimer's. ``the first copy of the book reached me on december 21 last year. my father died the next day. not that he knew that i was writing poetry. but it seemed that he was waiting for it to arrive,'' says dipannita, who has now made bangalore her home with husband. the poems are not so much structured attempts at literature but an unfolding of the progress of the disease. from her father failing to do simple personal tasks to a heart-breaking inability to recognise his children, the emotions are real. every event and its connection in the life of the affected one and those whom he was affecting, has been recounted. birthdays, meal times... even watching movies. ``i could see my father's disease prolong step by step and knew that i could do nothing to stop its march. the disease was far too advanced by the time it was diagnosed,'' dipannita recalls. the book also dwells on the importance of the care-giver, a thankless task that involves mental trauma and little in terms of positive feedback. ``my training as a special educator did help to an extent. but i had to undergo several rounds of counselling to ensure that i did not succumb to the pressure of carrying out such a sensitive task,'' dipannita says. so much so that by the time the end came, she was able to look at alzheimer's in a new light. a new definition of the disease: a -- affection; l -- love; z -- zest; h -- hope; e -- endurance; i -- inspiration; m -- motivation; e -- effort to renew the ... ; r -- relationships and make it; s -- soulful. disease and its attendant miseries spare no one. not a father, stripped to the bare in front of his daughter or the daughter trying her best to help the father who taught her to walk. but it does make for redefined relationships. something that dipannita learned in the midst of extreme suffering. (dipannita bose can be contacted on 5216528 or doelbose@yahoo.com).