Tuesday, November 18, 2008

A Pretty Logical Argument

I was embarrassed at my creaking and groaning joints. My left knee hurt badly. Walking for a mere five minutes was an effort. I hated to be sitting there, waiting apprehensively facing the reputed surgeon, as he poured over the scan reports and the x-rays. The doctor gently turned the laptop towards me and asserted “Osteoarthritis. You are a fit case for a partial knee transplant. Nothing to worry…….it’s quite a routine procedure……” he said, filling me with visual details about the knee transplant. The quiet confidence of the capable surgeon was matched only by the uneasy thumping of my anxious heart.
Just seven days to go, before a part of this knee …..that had made trips round the house caring for the family….that had walked the corridors of a reputed school for ten years, taking me in and out of umpteen classrooms…. that had taken me in my five years at an e-learning company, to a dozen graphic artists coaxing them to create the visuals required….would be replaced by a remarkable invention - a manmade knee joint. If the surgery went well I would walk without pain, touch wood!!
So there I was at the bank cashing a couple of fixed deposits (my medical insurance rejected the claim!) to meet the cost of surgery. A bank officer gave me ‘a knowing’ wink, ‘splurging on diamonds? A foreign trip?’ he asked. When I filled in the gory details he slipped me a note on which he had scribbled Guru Ramdev.
“Just put off the operation for 20 days. Try Ramdev’s methods. If there is no relief you can always go back to having your surgery”
It seemed a pretty logical argument. We decided to give it a shot. For two days I merely watched the couple of VCDs we had bought. I was not to be taken in by some guru in ochre clothes!! At length without any conviction I began five minutes of rhythmic breathing and 5 minutes of exercise – ‘Pranayam and Sookshma Vyayam’.
A mere ten minutes did wonders to my self confidence. Positive energy filled in driving out negative impulses. My mind stopped racing to imagined scorns and shattered dreams. My joints did not creak so!
Now I am able to complete a 40 minute stretch of walking without a break. I feel peaceful and cheerful. I do not claim that my knee is healed. Perhaps I am only buying time………maybe five years or ten………. before the surgery??
But it feels good to reinvent oneself…… To learn something new…… it has made me take a fresh look at life. Change makes us think……change is good.

A Pretty Logical Argument

I was embarrassed at my creaking and groaning joints. My left knee hurt badly. Walking for a mere five minutes was an effort. I hated to be sitting there, waiting apprehensively facing the reputed surgeon, as he poured over the scan reports and the x-rays. The doctor gently turned the laptop towards me and asserted “Osteoarthritis. You are a fit case for a partial knee transplant. Nothing to worry…….it’s quite a routine procedure……” he said, filling me with visual details about the knee transplant. The quiet confidence of the capable surgeon was matched only by the uneasy thumping of my anxious heart.
Just seven days to go, before a part of this knee …..that had made trips round the house caring for the family….that had walked the corridors of a reputed school for ten years, taking me in and out of umpteen classrooms…. that had taken me in my five years at an e-learning company, to a dozen graphic artists coaxing them to create the visuals required….would be replaced by a remarkable invention - a manmade knee joint. If the surgery went well I would walk without pain, touch wood!!
So there I was at the bank cashing a couple of fixed deposits (my medical insurance rejected the claim!) to meet the cost of surgery. A bank officer gave me ‘a knowing’ wink, ‘splurging on diamonds? A foreign trip?’ he asked. When I filled in the gory details he slipped me a note on which he had scribbled Guru Ramdev.
“Just put off the operation for 20 days. Try Ramdev’s methods. If there is no relief you can always go back to having your surgery”
It seemed a pretty logical argument. We decided to give it a shot. For two days I merely watched the couple of VCDs we had bought. I was not to be taken in by some guru in ochre clothes!! At length without any conviction I began five minutes of rhythmic breathing and 5 minutes of exercise – ‘Pranayam and Sookshma Vyayam’.
A mere ten minutes did wonders to my self confidence. Positive energy filled in driving out negative impulses. My mind stopped racing to imagined scorns and shattered dreams. My joints did not creak so!
Now I am able to complete a 40 minute stretch of walking without a break. I feel peaceful and cheerful. I do not claim that my knees are healed. Perhaps I am only buying time………maybe five years or ten………. before the surgery??
But it feels good to reinvent oneself…… To learn something new…… it has made me take a fresh look at life. Change makes us think……change is good.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

A Walk in the Park

I look at my wristwatch automatically checking time as we get off the car. I put my cell phone on silent as I begin my forty minute walk in the park.
Forty minutes of no TV, no cell phone, no doors to open, no conversation…
Forty minutes of uninterrupted thoughts.
Forty minutes of me with myself.
My pace is slow in the first lap. The rhythmic clackety-clack of the rusty lawn mower provides a background for the steady flow of thought. Sweet scent of freshly cut grass stirs recollections of the vast garden of my school in Kolkata (then Calcutta)……..the fragrant shade of the flowering tree……….the hovering kites that were perhaps waiting for us to return to our classes after a noisy lunch hour so that they can swoop down to pick up their lunch?………I recollect with a shade of regret the many prizes I could have won if only I had put in extra effort. I recollect the stern drill teacher who taught us the importance of good health.
A child races by jolting me back to the present. I swiftly overtake a couple and hear a tantalising wisp of conversation, “I am only saying that he could have at least told me…” ……was it the plaintive voice of a hurt ego? Was it the genuine concern for a friend in distress? Was there a disappointment about an emotional assistance that could not be given?
I see a lady sitting on a bench gesticulating and talking tenderly to a young man. She is too young to be his mother and they don’t look like a couple……perhaps she is a sister? She is filling him with courage to face some problem…….perhaps?
A loud chatter gushes into the silence of the park. It’s the cluster of eight ladies who gather here to exercise their legs and lungs. They are a cheerful group who rag and tease each other. Friends who console and rally for each other. It’s a happy group that instantly lifts my spirits.
I dream of writing stories about friends. I dream of success and published books. I dream of having a column for myself in the daily papers. I have decide a name for the column but………I realise I am on the fifth lap round the park.
Aah! It’s time for a short rest, and then we are back in the car. My resolutions lose their urgency as we comb our way through the crowded streets of JP Nagar and I am back ………..busy in the mundane chores of cooking and cleaning.