It was shaping up like just any other weekend. The only blemish was a late-than-usual half past four start from office. Usually Fridays warrant a 9 AM - 4 PM work day, which more often than not, shrinks further. The particular Friday instead expanded out to half past four. That would mean that I would have to take an auto to the railway station , instead of the usual and cheaper bus ride.
What followed was an hour of absolute pandemonium.The autowallah chose to go with Robert Frost when he took the road less traveled by, but Murphy was not to be left behind. The road less traveled by happened to be more crowded than usual, coming close to resembling a theatre screening a new release. Far from being disheartened by the race against time that we were loosing hands down, he bustled through the traffic and by the departure time of the train, we were a good two miles away from the station. I gave up all hope when the last nail was hit on the coffin - the auto overtook another on the narrowest of roads and promptly ended up with its front wheel onto a drainage slab which immediately gave way, leaving it positioned awkwardly at an obtuse angle to the ground and also toppling my suitcase onto the road. I managed to hang on for dear life .Normalcy was soon resumed and more road rash ensued as we reached the station to find the train just leaving, ten minutes late. I just about managed to hop onto the train without falling off.
If not for the daring driver and the late departure of the train, I would have had to take the bus instead and would have reached home way late into the night.
God's Grace so far. I didn't thank him though. We just do not thank him often.
Soon I was in my room, trying to switch on my computer. It is some computer - seems to have a soul of its own, and chooses to turn on or off on it’s on accord. Usually in such moods, it does not respond to the Power ON button, but today it did. Things seemed fine again, but soon it turned itself OFF. More tries from me, less would it budge. Being pretty used to such behaviour, I hit the sack without bothering much to coax it to turn ON. Late night browsing is the norm on Fridays, but it did not quite work out that way .
The ultimate outcome of my computer's insolence and the drivers daredevilry was that I got up unusually early for a Saturday and even woke up every one else at home. The weekend continued to be unusual, as I accompanied dad to market on our scooter, early in the morning. Another autowallah made an entry into the picture, as he tried to wedge into a gap between another car and our unsuspecting scooter, knocking us down. I crash-landed on my jaw, breaking it into three pieces.
Admitted to hospital, I came to know that there was a surgery to fix the jaws and the jaws had to be wired together for a month, during which period I could take only liquid food and could not speak too. This information drove my family to tears, but first thing that came to my mind was the positive side - was happy about the one month rest and the fact that I could watch all the matches of the Indo-Pak cricket series live on television. Though I am not a born optimist, the initial surge of optimism has never receded since -
even when it was a struggle to talk,
even when it was a struggle to sleep lying upright on my back,
even when it continues to be a bigger struggle to chew and am forced to grind the food into a paste before taking it in.
Such little experiences teach you certain facts in life.
-Never spurn the concept of fate. It uses queerest of routes to direct us to the inevitable. The way it joined hands with the driver and the computer was ample proof for me.
-In response to our anxious queries as to whether the jaw would heal perfectly, the doctor had replied that they would give their best but there was no substitute to God's perfection. I realized it was true.
-When I struggle to talk and eat, I understand the importance of even the minutest of functions that our body performs. Even when one of them fails, the effect it has on the entire system is huge.
-Whenever you feel beset by problems and pains, the best thing is to visit a hospital. Take a look around and it would not take long to realize that there are profusion of unluckier souls around. Be happy with whatever you have.
-I could not smile for the first few days. An involuntary grin or smile would soon end up in a grimace as the skin stretching would cause too much pain. Being able to smile is such a precious gift of God. So whenever we can, smile a lot.
Even now I have not recovered, with eating still remaining the main problem. But I am able to move around, read a lot, browse, spend valuable time with my family and most importantly feel happy in spite of the whole thing. I feel incredibly lucky that nothing else happened and my body bears no visible consequence of the whole episode, save a tiny stitch mark on the chin.
This time I do not forget to thank the Almighty for giving me that ounce of optimism initially. It is the initial outlook that you get about a problem which persists throughout,and decides how well you handle it. As Paulo Coelho mentioned in one of his works , I once again thank the Almighty for helping me believe that :-
"Whatever has to happen has happened, but nothing did".
