10:00 am, 31ST Aug’14 Me: Big brother! What’s up? How are you doing? Brother: Running high fever, around 102F Me: Take medicine and go to sleep. You should be as good as new. 9:00 pm, 31ST Aug’14 Me: How is your fever now? Brother: It is still around 101F. I am planning on getting admitted to the hospital. Me: Ya, I think you should do that. 11:00 am, 1ST Sep’14 Me: How are you feeling now? Brother: Got admitted last night. The fever is still there but doctors are here to take care of me. Me: Good good. You take rest and get well soon. 2:00 pm, 2nd Sep’14 Mom: Where are you? Me: In office. Mom (crying): I just spoke to your brother’s friend. Your brother is diagnosed with dengue and his platelet count is pretty low. Talk to his friend and see if there is need for you to go to Mumbai. Me (shocked): Haan, theek hain. That day, I call up my brother again. His friend picks up the call and informs me that he is sleeping at the moment and that he is fine, there is no need to panic. Relaxed, I inform the same to mom, who heaves a sigh of relief. 2:00 pm, 3rd Sep’14 Mom: Shobhit, your dad and I are flying to Mumbai tomorrow. Your brother hasn’t recovered and its better we are with him at this time Me: Yes, I think that’s in the best interest of everyone. 10:00 pm, 4th Sep’14 Me: How is bhaiya? Is he alright now? Me: Yes, he seems okay. Still running a bit of fever though. It’s just that now that I saw him with my own eyes, I am a lot more relaxed. 8:00 am, 5th Sep’14 Dad: What are you upto? Me: Just got up. Will get ready for work. How is bhaiya doing? Dad: He is better. There are some complications but the doctors are taking care of it. I think if it doesn’t affect your work, you should think about coming to Mumbai for the weekend. I head to work that day and after having a discussion with my manager, book my tickets to Mumbai. I book return tickets for Tuesday. That evening, I tried calling my parents but couldn’t connect to them. The network reception at the hospital was terrible and it was next to impossible to connect with anyone. But what was worrying me was the fact that my parents didn’t call me after I last spoke to them, informing that I had booked my tickets. I tried calling them throughout the evening but couldn’t connect. I finally managed to connect at 1 in the night, when my cousin picked up the call to inform me that a my brother had undergone a critical procedure, fluid had accumulated in his lungs making it difficult for him to breathe and hence the doctors had to tap the liquid out. I froze for a moment but then he mentioned that the procedure went well and that my brother was better now. He asked me not to worry and that he would meet me the next day. Worried, I tried to control my anxiety for a few hours till I boarded my flight to see firsthand the plight of my brother. 8:00 am, 6th Sep’14 I reach the hospital and head straight for the Critcal Care Unit where my brother was being treated. My mother greeted me at the entry gate and took me to my brother’s bed, where he was resting with an oxygen mask placed on him, to aid him in breathing. My mother informed me that he had gotten critical yesterday evening and was having difficulty in breathing. The doctors quickly got into action and set about trying to tap the fluid out of his body in a 2 hour long procedure. All was much better now and that the doctors say he should get into recovery phase soon. Although I could make out that his condition was bordering on critical, but I am no expert and had to go by what the doctors said. His condition remained stable throughout the whole of the day, although his constantly decreasing platelet count was a concern. But, the fact that he was responding and talking with ease, a far cry from the previous day, diffused the tension among everyone. 2:00 am, 7th Sep’14 My brother complained of severe back-pain and said that the pain was getting unbearable. The main doctor treating him had to be called from her quarters and after much discussion with her team, administered pain killers to my brother, who finally went to sleep. 10:00 am, 7th Sep’14 There seemed to be a sense of anxiety among the doctors. Worry seemed to be obvious on the faces of each and every one of them. There seemed to be a procession of all the HODs paying a visit to my brother, getting to understand from the team treating him as to how his condition was. Being seated by my brother’s bed, I could sense that something seemed wrong. My dad, being a doctor himself, was in constant conversation with the team, trying to understand the technicalities of my brother’s illness. For a man who is usually unruffled come what the situation, I could see him getting a bit desperate, as if he wanted to run for cover in a drone attack. Finally, everyone standing outside the CCU was brought to terms with the situation – my brother’s liver was malfunctioning, and given the rate of its decay, the likelihood of retrieving him back was slim. We all stood there numb. Not a word, not a single word was said. There were 8 people and 6 doctors who stood there wondering what to say next. Finally, my mother, who couldn’t control her emotions, asked the doctor bluntly, ‘Sir, are you going to get my son back?’ The doctor had no response and just asked her to have belief in God. A lot of the people might be wondering as to why I am disclosing a personal tragedy so openly. Am I looking to seek sympathy from others? life-purpose Far from it, I am only disclosing the whole incident to bring to light about how uncertain our life truly is. Within the span of 7 days, I went from thinking about which mobile to buy to harboring the thoughts of losing my elder brother. 7 days, that’s all it took to change my world upside down. And when I compare it to a lot of others, even 7 days is a lot. People’s lives change in a moment. It could be a road accident, or a natural disaster or some other form of tragedy, but in a snap, people’s lives undergo a transformation that has an impact for the rest of their lives. They are left pondering over the fact that there was so much more that needed to be done; so much more that needed to be said. But in a moment, the opportunity is gone. We are in the habit of taking things around us for granted. This sets into motion a cycle of mediocrity, wherein petty things tend to command majority of our mind’s thinking space. We direct our thoughts and concern towards the more insignificant things in life, without stopping for a moment, and trying to answer the million dollar question – What really is the true purpose of our existence? For sure there isn’t a universal answer to the above question. In fact that answers will be as subjective as they can get. But what we can be sure is certain to be universally acknowledged is the fact that majority of us will be treading on paths that are in no way going to lead us anywhere close to what we think is the objective of our existence.\ Most of us wait for that jolt to help us get up from our lumber and finally take things in our own hands and lead the way we always wanted to. Check out any great, famous personality worldwide. Most of them were faced with times where their backs were completely against the wall before they rose to the occasion and made a legend out of their lives. My brother did eventually get better. It was his miracle, it was our miracle. Maybe, this was just the jolt that was needed for not just him, but for everyone in his ecosphere (including me) to go back to the drawing board and rethink as to what it is that we truly are looking from life. Is running behind or pondering over minuscule objects the real purpose of our existence? ‘I was strolling along in life, When a bolt from the blue caught me by, Putting into motion the winds of change, Making me realize all this while I had been lame. I was strolling when I was meant to run, I was merely living when I was meant to thrive.’
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 15:48:36 +0000
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