Two Things I Know, or What You Can Tell the NHS Receptionist
So, on Friday afternoon at the scanner someone asked me if I was Hindu. I said "um...hmm...that's complicated. I'm vegetarian?" The reason it came up was because our scanner's tech is Sri Lankan and he described himself as Hindu and was surprised to learn that the other person there grew up with Shinto, not Buddhism.

Usually if I am pushed to give myself a religious label and I want to be accurate, I would have to say "I'm an agnostic-Humanist with Buddhist leanings who sometimes attends a Unitarian Universalist church but is not a member (and I'm culturally Hindu and try to keep the major holidays if I can)." I'm pretty happy with that, but it's not something I put on forms or mention to casual acquaintances, you know?

Then Friday night I was at the ER (well, they call it "A&E" here for Accident and Emergency) with a friend, and because she was, um, indisposed I was answering questions for the receptionist. One of the questions was ethnic group, which must have been for tracking purposes/official NHS stats, and the other one was religion, which must be for in case you die while at the hospital. My friend is clearly Christian, so I told the receptionist that.

Later I was thinking what I would have said if it was me being checked in and not my friend? The agnostic-Humanist thing is a bit wordy and I'm sure they don't have a check box for it. And if they're asking about what to do with your body if you die, then that answer doesn't really help them very much. So if Hindu means you want to be cremated and strongly prefer vegetarian food, then that is what you can tell the NHS receptionist if I am ever being checked into the hospital. Those are two things I am sure about, anyway.
- posted by k @ 6:59 AM