Thursday, 5 July 2018

Challenge, our greatest Heritage


Delhi’s weather does not keep up to date. The Meterological department’s forecasts often go awry.   But the best barometer of weather change is the seasonal illness that besieges Delhi with a clock work precision. Gastroenteritis and typhoid herald the onset of summer.  If it is dengue, chickenguniya and malaria, it is monsoon season. If it is flu, it is the transition period from summer to autumn(through monsoon)  or winter to summer. Hence it is prudent to get a flu shot annually and it is best to take it before the rains arrive. The vaccine, priced rather high, is available in a few private hospitals but seldom in a government hospital. Since this vaccine is kept in deep freeze, it is advisable to buy it wrapped in ice and take it straight to the OPD/ Emergency services of the hospital and get the shot before the vaccine loses its potency. To ensure there is no malpractice (like buying it off the counter and selling it at exorbitant price outside, the vaccine being a scarce commodity) the hospital needs the doctor’s prescription, before administering the shot.
I was asked to get it from the chief physician of a private hospital who has his consulting room in the ICU where he is always hemmed in by scores of relatives whose family members are  patients in ICU. I was nervous as my case was nothing so life threatening to disturb an overworked doctor, but I had to get his endorsement before going to the OPD for the shot. It is easier to get the permission of Nandi( the bull, the  gate guardian of Lord Shiva) and meet the Lord than get past the sentry at the ICU door. When I reeled off my  health selfie in response to the sentry’s one hundred questions, I detected a Eureka flash on his face when he discovered that I was neither a  patient nor an anxious relative to trouble his ‘saheb’ but a seeker of his signature on the OPD form to get my flu shot. He went in and came back in a jiffy and grinned: “Andhar chalo, Der muth karo:(Go in and don’t take too much of the doctor’s time). I walked in gingerly, a little awkward to disturb a top physician for as trivial a thing as a signature. The chief physician was far from intimidating as I had feared. Contrary to the picture the sentry had drawn of the doctor looking irritated, harassed, impatient and churly, he had a gracious  smile, putting me at ease. He signed after I told him that I had come only for his signature and added that my family members and I had been fortunate in being spared a hospital admission all these years. In the same breath, I wistfully added who knows, we may run out of luck in the future, as we were all advancing in years. He smiled and though much younger in age, he wisely said: “Challenge”. I could not understand what he meant by that word.  Sensing my confused and vague look, he said “ Yes, madam, just   keep challenging yourself ever so slightly- both mentally and physically- and you may, god willing, not have any  need  for hospitalization in future also .
 I felt reassured that all is well with me and I need not unnecessarily worry about old age illness and hospitalization if I followed his advice.  “Keep challenging ever so slightly”- these words echoed through my mind and I recalled Robert Browning’s famous line “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?” Just stretch, maybe just a micrometre everyday to remain shipshape physically and mentally. Challenges are an indisputable part of life. The greatest challenge is the challenge of illness and death. Here the challenge is not challenging another but challenging oneself and finding the inner strength to cope with the decline that comes with age.
We age, we grow old. That is an irrevocable truth. Age like price rise, can only go up and not come down. This is again an unchallenging fact of life. No use fearing it or feeling anxious about it.  Billy Graham said: “Old age may have its limitations and challenges, but in spite of them, our latter years can be some of the most rewarding and fulfilling of our lives”. One may sneer at Graham’s optimism, but the truth is age brings with it experience; age teaches us many lessons and age expects us to learn from them. Graham’s words are not meant to flatter grey heads but they speak the truth that life is fulfilling if we practice what  age has taught us. Then we need not fear growing old. Once more I go back to Browning who said “Grow old with me. The best is yet to be
I suddenly had my Eureka moment when I felt I was no longer afraid of old age. “Keep challenging” is more vital in old age than in our younger days. I felt the need to challenge death which is the end point of old age.  I realized that life is nothing but a journey to reach where we started from. The end is the beginning of a new life just as the beginning is the end of a life past. These are my words  to millions of sons and daughters) who fear the day of separation as their parents hair turns greyer every day, their ears hard of hearing, their  eyesight dimmer and their  limbs stiffer and threatening to go on strike.
My dearest ...,
I write this letter with a strong affirmation that I am fighting fit and the letter is not meant as some kind of premonition within me.  I write this not to frighten you or even to counsel you but only to fortify you as my day of reckoning may not be too far(who knows, they may be far too far)                                                                                                   
 You were not born to rejoice when I came into the world and therefore you don’t have to mourn when I depart. We do not know where we will go, just as we do not know where we came from. But we were brought together in this life and that too, without our knowledge and without our consent. This is what we call Rinanubandha. Sai Baba whom many of us  revere and worship defines Rinanubandha as the relationship that exists between all living beings on earth and which is the root cause behind all our physical and emotional bondages. It is indeed strange that we meet and come close to people who neither belong to our family nor connected with the place or region or even nation we belong to.  But we have been told from our early days that whomsoever we meet in this life is in some way linked to us from our previous lives about which we remain ignorant.  Sai Baba said more than a hundred years ago: “ Treat everyone we meet in a caring and loving way as everyone of us is tied to every other being, all  emanating from universal oneness.” Death is not the end; it is the beginning of a new phase of life. When my mother died and we went to the sea to immerse her ashes collected and wrapped in a towel, we noticed how in the blink of an eye, the towel travelled far across the sea beyond our sight as though the departed soul was in a great hurry to shake off all ties of this life. The beggar sitting on the shore mused: “Your Amma has fled. Go home and don’t cry as she has no intention of returning.”I was struck by the wisdom of his words. The mother who was so dear to us had opted to move out and no one on earth knows where she has gone. As for her, she will not remember all those she had left behind. It is foolish to cry and pine for the restoration of all sundered ties as death marks the end of the old and the beginning of a new tie.
But strangely, in some way, in some unexpected manner, on some day we may come across a stranger with whom we strike an instant rapport.  This is how Rinanubandha works. It is not necessary to correlate the new bond with the past. Human bonding is spontaneous and does not depend upon reason or logic for its formation. Death is the harbinger of regeneration or revival of life. It marks the end of one chapter both for the living and for the dead. We have to be thankful for the lovely years of living together, sharing the joys and challenges of life. It is foolish to think that the dead father or mother will visit their children on their death anniversary. The relationship was good as long it had lasted. We should have the courage to let go of that relationship when the time to end arrives. Who knows when and how I will come back to you. The only certainty is neither you nor I will recognize our earlier bond when we again come together and start afresh a new tie. This is borne by the fact that the population of the world at no time diminishes even after a catastrophic war or any natural calamity. The only indelible occurrence is the return of the tie that we had lost. As  Sai says, we should have shraddha (faith) and saburi(patience)-faith in the regeneration of ties and patience to wait for it to happen.
Death poses the greatest challenge to human beings. But let us not think that death is the ultimate victor. No, it seems to triumph over those who refuse to accept the cessation of bondage. It was John Donne who wrote the famous sonnet “Death, be not Proud”. I have italicized the key lines of this sonnet.
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful,
for thou art not so;
    For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
……………………………………………………………………..
   Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
  One short sleep past, we wake eternally
  And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

Let us accept the truth that men must endure their going hence even as their coming hither. Ripeness is
all.  In accepting this simple truth, we shall challenge death and triumph over it.
Your own
Amma

No comments:

Post a Comment