Thursday, September 27, 2007

A Bizzare Incident

Last Friday or should I say early Saturday. I am not quite sure myself. But BigGeek was in his hospital bed, I was trying to sleep on the broken recliner close to him. BigGeek had a temperature that was freaking me out. The nurse came in every two hours to check his vitals, taking care not to disturb his sleep. Another patient down the hall screamed his lungs out. “Help, help. Someone please help me, help help.” I drifted in and out of sleep, not sure if the cry for help was real or imagined. Real because I could hear it loud and clear. Imagined because I could hear the faint chatter of the nurses at the nurses’ station. How could they not hear this man? I thought to myself. Surely they won’t leave him in pain. I remembered how earlier that evening, a nurse had rushed in less than 5 seconds after she heard a crash in our room when BigGeek knocked down a cup. The nurses were attentive. Could they not hear this man?

It was close to midnight, I was tired, yet alert, my body must have been producing massive amounts of adrenalin. BigGeek was soundly asleep. His breathing rapid. I closed my eyes and settled into a surreal slumber. Everything was so still. Everything. Except when punctuated periodically by the old man’s cries.

I was aware of the clock. I could see it in my mind’s eye, slowly ticking away. I was waiting for 2:00 am when the night nurse would be back to see if his temperature was down. All I wanted was BigGeek to get out of this, to be well, to thrive. Just about then a very strange thing happened. I don’t quite know how it began, but I have a distinct memory of someone talking to me. It’s quite hard to put this experience into tangible words. It just felt so real then, but so bizarre later. Perhaps it was my tired, stressed mind making up stories. Who is to know? But a voice was heard. It was grandmotherly, yet so young. It was affectionate, yet slightly detached, like a friendly neighbor. It had authority- you got that feeling- you simply could not refuse it, but it was so casual, like a friend. It felt like my own voice, but it was not. All it said was (in Marathi) “Ekda yeoon bhetoon ja” (Come and meet me once). Very casually. Yet with a little urgency. Like what an old teacher would say when meeting a student unexpectedly in the middle of a crowded street. I felt the voice’s presence (not a person’s presence, mind you, I knew the voice was there) even before it spoke to me. I knew what it would sound like even before the words actually materialized. I knew that the voice, bizarrely enough, was Vaishno Devi’s. This is truly weird. I kept asking (I don’t know to who) why not deities I am more familiar with? Like Tirupati Balaji or one of our family deities. Why Vasihno Devi? Who I have always associated with sappy Hindi movies and devout Punjabis? I am not a religious person. Not in the conventional sense. My questions were not answered, but the message was repeated twice and it stopped. That’s it. Nothing more.

It was close to 2:00 am. The night nurse wheeled in her paraphernalia. She stuck a thermometer in BigGeek’s mouth and proclaimed his temperature was down by a degree. An hour later, he broke out in sweat and when the night nurse came back at 6:00, the temperature had returned to normal.

12 comments:

Sahithi's Mom... said...

WOW..
It must have been surreal feeling...
U think it is vaishno devi is it??

Tharini said...

*goose pimples*
You have analysed this voice so deeply....Like what an old teacher would say when meeting a student unexpectedly in the middle of a crowded street....it's amazing and feels to me like the presence of your faith. God bless you.

~nm said...

:)

It reminds me of what my father tells us - we are just humans and we should not think we are the end! There are powers which are beyond us and we should respect that and be aware of them.

Reason why I wrote this is because I think what you felt or sensed was what my father always talked about.

Hope you hubby gets well real soon!

Squiggles Mom said...

A lot of people talk about 'Maata ka bulawa'. I personally don't subscribe to it but if you're a believer then maybe that's what it was. A little freaky *shudders*. It may help to speak someone who believes to see whether they had a similar experience.

Timepass said...

Surely, this would have some positive impact on BigGeek's health is what I feel.

BTW u r tagged..

Anusha said...

wow. that was powerful. the logical side of me fights to find a rational explanation for this, but the spiritual side of me is ecstatic. I can imagine how it must have been for you.

what do you think? has this changed anything in your belief system? will you take the request (come meet me) to heart? I am just curious to see what you make of it - feel free to ignore my questions.

Savani said...

sahithi's mom: I know it is

tharini:it is still very vivid. thanks.

~nm: so true.. i am not an extreme rational, but do look for rational explanations.

squiggles mom: i thought it was a term coined by hindi screen writers. i knew vaishno devi was somewhere in the himalayas. had to google to find out and yes, mata ka bulawa is a big thing.

timepass: who knows. i will do anything to make BigGeek feel better. working on your tag.

kodi's mom: i am in the exact same place as you are, with the exact same questions. I don't even know what my belief system is anymore. The answers will come to me eventually, I just don't know when or how.

mnamma said...

I got goosebumps Dotmom as I was reading through your post. I am sure you'll get all your answers in due course. Glad that everything tuned out to be the way they are now. Best wishes.

Anonymous said...

Whoa! Truly amazing!!! I hope everything is fine with BG. Happy Dasara.

-Mythili

Anonymous said...

Yes,she has told you to meet you quick which means as quick as you can and would not be wise to put it off. I say just go with one elder. You yourself will be so tired, leave Chip at home. Provided he takes on to his grandparents that you can safely leave him. At that altitude and your luggage and tiredness, it is best to laeve Chip behind. I hope he can stay with your people for a couple of days.

rayshma said...

one of my clients *t-series guy* had explained this to me once. i was being sarcy to him, after a tuff day at work. and told him he shud go for darshan so that i'll be saved the days he wasn't in offc. and he said "jab tak maata ka bulawa nahi aata, nahi jaa sakta"
i'm so glad u could make the trip.
on days, when i find it difficult to keep d faith, it's personal tales like these that keep me going.

Devi said...

u should go see Vaishno DEvi. You're lucky!