I must have been twenty two when late one night my father woke me up. My maternal grandfather and great grandfather had arrived at that unearthly hour and wanted me to accompany them urgently to vellore. They wanted my services as an expert driver.
Word had come from CMC hospital that grandmother’s sister, who was admitted there critically ill, was sinking. Grandfather who had a Willy’s station wagon immediately set out proposing to take the patient’s father, his own father-in law, to see the dying daughter once more for the last time and also to bring back the body as soon as the inevitable occurred.
I changed in a jiffy and we set out earnestly on the 400kms journey. The diesel vehicle wouldn’t move as fast as the present day turbo charged engines and there weren’t a patch of four lanes in all of India those days. As we wanted to reach before she passed away, we drove non stop except for a brief while for tea and reached Vellore after about sixteen hours on the road.
Grandmother’s sister was in a very serious condition and the doctors gave her a maximum of 24 hours. Planning started immediately for the return journey with the body by the next day evening. Since there won’t be room for great grandfather to accompany us along with the body on the journey back, he was to be taken to Madras early the next morning and put on a flight to Cochin. That too was entrusted to me and we left after getting a wink of sleep.
At the airport while waiting for the boarding pass I told the person standing next in the queue that great grandfather was travelling alone and to be of assistance should the need arises. Probably feeling a bit scared seeing the old man, he asked me whether he can go the toilet by himself. Great grandfather was a little hard of hearing otherwise he would have been offended.
We the advance party of undertakers waited for the eventuality which never occurred the next day nor four days after defying all the doctor’s conclusions. So we returned rather uneventfully.
A couple of months passed and the patient was discharged from the hospital not because she was cured but because the doctors said there was nothing more to be done. She was brought home and was bedridden for the rest of her days.
Meanwhile grandfather developed a chest pain and was referred to a famous cardiologist at Trivandrum. On the day he was given appointment he took along with him for company, a retired doctor friend. At Trivandrum at the prodding of grandfather his doctor friend too underwent investigations and when the findings were announced, grandfather’s heart was pumping well but his friend the doctor who accompanied him just for the heck of it was found to have a cardiac snag. They were prescribed medicines and sent back by the cardiologist. On the way back grandfather dropped his friend at his house and asked his wife to take good care of him since it was revealed that her husband had a heart problem.
Two days later my grandfather who was all of 63 years passed away in his sleep. His sister-in law whom he had gone to vellore to bring back dead, breathed her last only a week after him. The doctor friend who accompanied him just to pass time but was found to have a heart condition lived for another eighteen more years. And Great grandfather out lived all of them to the ripe old age of103.
Man proposes God disposes.
5 comments:
When we were vacationing in Kerala last summer, the very first day when we reached our home, I had to carry my father's eldest bro....who was around 88 years old....to the hospital. After a few days there, he was discharged....only to be carried again to the hospital, in a few days time. Again after discharge and in approx a week's time, another complication arose n again me n my cousins had to carry him to the hospital....for the upteenth time.
Noticing the un-usual frequent, trips to n from the hospital n his oldage, I told my wife, tat most probably we will bid adieu to him, before our vacation ends.
But as fate wud hav it, I was wrong n instead, my father's sister in law, who was around 72 years old, had a sudden n un-timely demise....after a fall, in the kitchen.
To keep it short n brief, our dear appachen (the 88 yr old uncle), passed away, silently on New Year's day....jus after a few days after blessing his youngest grand-daughter n her husband, on their marriage.
You are absolutely right....God disposes, as and when he wishes, not us humans.
Thanks Jonyboy for sharing your experience.
As an epilogue I would add that the death of my maternal Grandfather was the defining moment in my life. I flew in for the funeral straight from college as my bachelor degree exams had got over the previous day. Since my mother did not have any brothers I was expected to stay with my Grandmother, which I did for the next 25 years, until she passed away.
Though I was not brilliant in my studies, I was an excellent dreamer, and as our former President always used to enthuse, “Dream and dreams make...........” .Well my dreams naturally got shelved,not that I would have achieved anything with certainty, but still may be......................
"We the advance party of undertakers waited ".
I like this sentence.
Yes, God has His own plans which don't always fit in with ours
Dear Nebu,
It is a very late to comment on a a blog wriitten in 2009.
i stumbled onto your blog, and was hooked.
lejo, Thanks for stopping by. I haven't been posting for a long time. Past two years I was busy building my new house into which we moved in two months ago.
Now I feel like having lost touch with writing besides the poor net connectivity in the new locality.
Hope to start posting more frequently in the near future.
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