This past Monday saw me on the verge of having brain aneurysm when my blood pressure decided to soar into stratospheric spheres. I went for a regular medical check up and was immediately admitted to clinic, strapped on a bed, watching 2 doctors rushing around me and trying their best to prevent me from having a kidney or heart failure. It really got me worried when I heard the doctor uttering orders to have me put in 'isolation' with no visitors allowed to see me for 24 hours and forcing my body to rest via sleeping pills, drips and other strange medications. I spent 02 nights at the clinic, unable to talk to anyone the first day and in those sporadic moments when I came out of my drowsiness, I felt utterly sad and depressed.
This unexpected news about my health condition somehow made me lose my bearings for a moment and although I am still trying to pull myself together, I know I can't rush back to my old self and instead try to, slowly and carefully, envision a new outlook on life. I have always been prone to yearning and dreaming, worrying and second-guessing but I guess I am now done with all that for now. I had a lot of time to think about the many aspects of my very existence on that clinic bed. Probably too much time. Buddhists always come back to 'the precious human birth', laying constant emphasis on how valuable it is to be re-born in this very realm in lieu of an animal or ghost one. Makes sense to me now.
Of all the persons I love loving, I feel a special need to be thankful to Mike, who literally saved my life. Had he not urged me to check my blood pressure, I don't know what would have happened...
Mike and I have always shared that special connection, one which stood the test of time despite us being in two different parts of the world for more than 2 decades.
My family and friends have shown a lot of concern and caring towards me. Okay, anyone would say it's normal but lately somehow I have observed, that people I come across in my professional environment, colleagues and acquaintances, tend to be cast away by their own families and relatives when faced with difficulties and hardships. They are almost rejected instead of being supported. I have seen so many cases this past year that it got me seriously thinking that there is something wrong with this world. Can karma strike that hard?
Back home from clinic, I saw the commemorative magazine of my school on the table. A gift from my sister. 'Our Legacy' read the cover, I shuffled through a few pages and surprisingly a feel of nostalgia suddenly hit me when I saw a few familiar faces. As opposed to most people I know, I am not overly sentimental about school, not that it was a dark period but it was not stellar either. Throwback to RCC days and the only name that comes to me is that Frederic Basset, a guy in whose presence I felt reassured and safe.
While the first 5 years at college were pretty quiet ones, the sixth one got more tricky. I had to shift class and join one where I hardly knew any one. And there they were, guys I had never even talked to before, let alone knowing their names. I remember walking through the doorstep of that Lower VI class, petrified - almost expecting to be bullied - and Frederic Basset staring at me from the rear row. I think he could sense the panic in my eyes and my pale demeanor. He called me over, looked at me closely and said to the whole classroom ' si n'importe ki gogot prend nissa ou touss sa piti la, mo kass so liki' . Was it his Christian heart, set of values or upbringing that propelled him to be protective towards me?That, my friends, will remain a mystery. What I know, on the other hand, is that these few words uttered by him filled me with hope that I would not be an outcast. In all honesty, I was not really interested in feeling included because deep down I already knew that I was far too different from the other guys and that I would feel out of place anyhow but not being bullied was already such a blessing. When I see all these nasty things happening in schools today, I cannot but think that it could have been me at that time. Frederic hits my list among those human beings I am thankful to. One glance at a stranger and he instinctively understood things, he felt empathy. He changed the course of events of my life by standing by what he thought was the right thing to do. There are the things that we do right and then there are the right things to do. He embodied that ethic.
True, our parents try to educate us by instilling moral qualities in us but it is our peers who have their weigh when it comes to influencing our lives. Frederic's self confidence, fearless - at times, slightly conceited - ways inspired me. He was the kind of guy who could walk the talk, unabashed and daunting, the kind of guy I wish I were...
I cannot but think of him today with immense gratitude and I would like to say kudos to a guy, whom I am convinced, is the type of father who will teach his kids right and show them right from wrong.
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