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.