Rebirth....
Life was great. It had always been. I had been doing everything at the right time - finished high school with honours, got into professional college - the best in the region in the first attempt, finished medical school with honours, got into apprenticeship, had my first baby, finished my apprenticeship, got into a great job- and have been there ever since. Oh! And a wonderful intermission - my second child blessed me in this time, too. Life was truly great.
I was, am, good at my work; passionate about my surgical work and skills. I have had the occasion to keep doing good things- like I like to- quietly. On my own terms and with a a lot of love coming my way from both the patients and the hospital staff. I could not ask for more.
Each day I would wake up and thank the Lord for a blessed life- a man who loves me, children who adore me, patients who love me in their own way, people who practically worship the ground I walk on. I also thanked Him for the little patches of clouds He managed to blow into this otherwise bright and sunny life-scape of mine.
We had a major burglary in which our home was completely and ruthlessly ransacked. We lost everything that could be counted and lots more that could not be evaluated. This was the peak of our otherwise fabulous life. Coming back from a conference abroad, with our young children, we found the locks broken and the entire household smashed or on the floor. The clothes that they could not carry away were stained with mango pulp and some other unmentionables. The little idols that had adorned one of our cabinets had been thrown on the floor in complete irreverence to the divine.
We felt violated, and it was not a good feeling.
It took me ten days to just separate our left-overs into those that needed to be dry cleaned, or washed, or salvaged in some way and those that needed to be thrown away.
Till then, we used to, with some pride talk of our respective gold medals. Both Sanjay and I had earned the Gold medals in our specialisations. We were, we thought, rightfully proud of this achievement. We had never been able to earn unfathomable amounts of money. We lived a good but not outlandish life. We had enough and did not want too much more. So these medals seemed to be our 'material possessions' of pride. The thieves did not leave even those little medallions back.
We literally lost everything that we had. And we realised how little it all really meant to us.
We started rebuilding our life once again. With a lot of love and frugality. We kept our children close to our heart and body. We put two beds in one ro gave them the security of always having us around. It took some doing - gradually life came back to normalcy.
I remember all those people who stood by me at that time. Friends who we slept with and who kept the children safe while we cleared all the mess, the hospital and organisation who allowed me extraordinary leave just so that I could come back to work! Everybody was rock solid with me. And my parents who stood by me, who helped me rebuild everything- a physical safe net called home from that ransacked house to the spiritual reality of a family that always is in God's hands- through the most difficult to the easiest of the breezy times it can face.
I learnt my lessons:
1.Love, in all it's shapes is what drives the world. Love we share with our parents and with our children, love that we share with the people we work with and our friends, love that we give out and that we receive- this is the love that keeps us warm on cold winter nights. It can sustain the longest blackout, it can be our life-line when all that we see is bleak, dark, bare, cold winter.
2.Money is important- but only so much. We need enough to eat and put basics in place. No more. It can lull us into believing that safety has a price and that the 'bigger' we get, the bugger the price. And that we must always have THAT much... And that THAT keeps rising with our needs ever expanding. We do not need things to love and be loved. And though we do need to take care of the food, shelter, clothing, education... We must live simply.
3.Everything is momentary- a mere bubble in the firmament of life. Everything. Except the relationships we build and nurture. We are born into a family. That is a given- though there are many who may not be able to find their bliss in this plan of the Gods above to teach us our required life lessons. In the end- it is family that must get into the boat or swim together. And we will do anything, we must do everything to keep The Family together. God put us together for a purpose. Till we are alive, we still have work to do. Together.
4.Friends are brought into our lives because the family can have only so many people and no more! God brings our friends to expand the circle of love around us. He brings all the people who can and will do anything to keep us afloat. Through thick and thin, through rain and storm, through sunshine or deep, dark clouds. These are our extended family- people whose souls feed ours and whose hearts beat for us.
5.Things... Are just that- things. We need not clutter our life to give a meaning to it! And the less clutter and belongings we have the more open spaces around us can soak in the energy of the universe- and the more we can soak in the same energy. We run the risk of getting lost. The forest of things can catch fire any time. And eventually it does. Then, all that you are left with is what you made of your life in terms of the values you lived by and passed on to your children, that you made the yard stick to measure your life with. The only 'thing' that you can lay any claim to at the end of your life is the legacy you leave behind. Something that makes the world a better place for those who follow.
And most of all- this episode taught me that the only life worth living is a life lived with total commitment, passion and dedication.
A life that speaks its own language and tells its own story and builds en epic.
It is a life that really builds a better world- filled with more love, less things and plenty of relationships that build a web that can and often does, hold the entire world. It may do so tenuously but the strings are strong, resilient and form connections. These connections convey the littlest emotions and feelings from one point in space time to any other- anywhere, everywhere.
The monarch effect... Where the flapping wings of a small butterfly in an African forest can trigger a thunderstorm in the Pacific ocean.
The only life worth living is a life that an spark creativity, that can allow people, to be what they can be.
The only life worth living is the one that creates emotion, and tears...
That allows us to smile and cry, and make others do the same around us... Live as if the spark is always alive. Live as if it is a veritable fire.
Live as if everyone is great- and if they do not know it, it is your responsibility to make them aware.
Live fully.
Love freely.
Breathe deeply.
And go on to build a universe that lasts.
Life was great. It had always been. I had been doing everything at the right time - finished high school with honours, got into professional college - the best in the region in the first attempt, finished medical school with honours, got into apprenticeship, had my first baby, finished my apprenticeship, got into a great job- and have been there ever since. Oh! And a wonderful intermission - my second child blessed me in this time, too. Life was truly great.
I was, am, good at my work; passionate about my surgical work and skills. I have had the occasion to keep doing good things- like I like to- quietly. On my own terms and with a a lot of love coming my way from both the patients and the hospital staff. I could not ask for more.
Each day I would wake up and thank the Lord for a blessed life- a man who loves me, children who adore me, patients who love me in their own way, people who practically worship the ground I walk on. I also thanked Him for the little patches of clouds He managed to blow into this otherwise bright and sunny life-scape of mine.
We had a major burglary in which our home was completely and ruthlessly ransacked. We lost everything that could be counted and lots more that could not be evaluated. This was the peak of our otherwise fabulous life. Coming back from a conference abroad, with our young children, we found the locks broken and the entire household smashed or on the floor. The clothes that they could not carry away were stained with mango pulp and some other unmentionables. The little idols that had adorned one of our cabinets had been thrown on the floor in complete irreverence to the divine.
We felt violated, and it was not a good feeling.
It took me ten days to just separate our left-overs into those that needed to be dry cleaned, or washed, or salvaged in some way and those that needed to be thrown away.
Till then, we used to, with some pride talk of our respective gold medals. Both Sanjay and I had earned the Gold medals in our specialisations. We were, we thought, rightfully proud of this achievement. We had never been able to earn unfathomable amounts of money. We lived a good but not outlandish life. We had enough and did not want too much more. So these medals seemed to be our 'material possessions' of pride. The thieves did not leave even those little medallions back.
We literally lost everything that we had. And we realised how little it all really meant to us.
We started rebuilding our life once again. With a lot of love and frugality. We kept our children close to our heart and body. We put two beds in one ro gave them the security of always having us around. It took some doing - gradually life came back to normalcy.
I remember all those people who stood by me at that time. Friends who we slept with and who kept the children safe while we cleared all the mess, the hospital and organisation who allowed me extraordinary leave just so that I could come back to work! Everybody was rock solid with me. And my parents who stood by me, who helped me rebuild everything- a physical safe net called home from that ransacked house to the spiritual reality of a family that always is in God's hands- through the most difficult to the easiest of the breezy times it can face.
I learnt my lessons:
1.Love, in all it's shapes is what drives the world. Love we share with our parents and with our children, love that we share with the people we work with and our friends, love that we give out and that we receive- this is the love that keeps us warm on cold winter nights. It can sustain the longest blackout, it can be our life-line when all that we see is bleak, dark, bare, cold winter.
2.Money is important- but only so much. We need enough to eat and put basics in place. No more. It can lull us into believing that safety has a price and that the 'bigger' we get, the bugger the price. And that we must always have THAT much... And that THAT keeps rising with our needs ever expanding. We do not need things to love and be loved. And though we do need to take care of the food, shelter, clothing, education... We must live simply.
3.Everything is momentary- a mere bubble in the firmament of life. Everything. Except the relationships we build and nurture. We are born into a family. That is a given- though there are many who may not be able to find their bliss in this plan of the Gods above to teach us our required life lessons. In the end- it is family that must get into the boat or swim together. And we will do anything, we must do everything to keep The Family together. God put us together for a purpose. Till we are alive, we still have work to do. Together.
4.Friends are brought into our lives because the family can have only so many people and no more! God brings our friends to expand the circle of love around us. He brings all the people who can and will do anything to keep us afloat. Through thick and thin, through rain and storm, through sunshine or deep, dark clouds. These are our extended family- people whose souls feed ours and whose hearts beat for us.
5.Things... Are just that- things. We need not clutter our life to give a meaning to it! And the less clutter and belongings we have the more open spaces around us can soak in the energy of the universe- and the more we can soak in the same energy. We run the risk of getting lost. The forest of things can catch fire any time. And eventually it does. Then, all that you are left with is what you made of your life in terms of the values you lived by and passed on to your children, that you made the yard stick to measure your life with. The only 'thing' that you can lay any claim to at the end of your life is the legacy you leave behind. Something that makes the world a better place for those who follow.
And most of all- this episode taught me that the only life worth living is a life lived with total commitment, passion and dedication.
A life that speaks its own language and tells its own story and builds en epic.
It is a life that really builds a better world- filled with more love, less things and plenty of relationships that build a web that can and often does, hold the entire world. It may do so tenuously but the strings are strong, resilient and form connections. These connections convey the littlest emotions and feelings from one point in space time to any other- anywhere, everywhere.
The monarch effect... Where the flapping wings of a small butterfly in an African forest can trigger a thunderstorm in the Pacific ocean.
The only life worth living is a life that an spark creativity, that can allow people, to be what they can be.
The only life worth living is the one that creates emotion, and tears...
That allows us to smile and cry, and make others do the same around us... Live as if the spark is always alive. Live as if it is a veritable fire.
Live as if everyone is great- and if they do not know it, it is your responsibility to make them aware.
Live fully.
Love freely.
Breathe deeply.
And go on to build a universe that lasts.
