Today's our 27th wedding anniversary. As we cut the anniversary cake and snapped a few photographs, I was taken back in time to the actual date. Many of the protagonists who'd actively worked towards the preparation for the wedding have passed into the mist of time. Lekha and I remembered them as we flipped through the pages of our wedding album. Why can't we've a system where we have the luxury to hit the 'pause' button in our lives to remain eternally at a lovable moment? Why can't we have all the people that we love, with us, till our very end?
I know that these are illusory thoughts and are not achievable due to the cosmic truth of life.
So, I shall do the next best thing and that's to recount the milestones in our lives that happened on or after 16 May '91. So, here I go:-
(a) Ammachi (Mrs PN Panicker) telling me after the wedding ceremony was over that she didn't
mind passing away, now that she has seen my marriage. I never knew that it would turn out to
be prophetic. I'd told her that she and Muthachhan must come and stay with us at our house in
Ooty. Her reply, "You tell Muthachhan and I shall make sure that we come and stay with you
to your hearts' content"shall always remain an unfinished dream for me.
(b) On the first week of Jun, we'd proceeded to Wellington so that I could join the 47th Staff
Course. Our first house was 28/2, Gorkha Hill which we'd furnished with items bought off
the shelf at Wellington and the soft furnishings from Coimbatore.
(c) Ammachi passes into the mist of time on 25 Jul. I'm not informed about her passing away
because they did not want me to break the course! I come to know of it during the tutorial
break.
(d) Lekha has continuous temperature and pain in the joints and I take her to Lt Col Bhatta, the
Medical Specialist who's taken aback when Lekha's weight was noted to be 25 kgs. He tells
me not to worry but a look at his face tells me that I should. Her blood samples were sent to
Bombay and Bangalore for further tests to rule out Lupus phenomenon.
(e) I go for the FAT(Forward Area Tour) and prior to that, drop her with my parents at Raj Nivas
in early Sep '91.
(f) She's put on ayurvedic treatment under the care of Dr. KMK Labba, our family friend and
dad's classmate and friend.
(g) Realised during the next tutorial break that Lekha would never join me back at Wellington
because of her medical condition. She was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis and the
treatment had begun.
(h) When I'd asked my dad as to why he and mom were bearing the brunt of looking after Lekha,
my dad's words were, "Looking after your wife is a rare privilege. You don't worry about
us. Concentrate on your studies". Thus I was a forced bachelor from Sep '91 to the end of the
course, in Apr '92.
(j) I was posted at the Headquarters, Southern Naval Command in the Training Division with
Cmde KP Mathew at the helm when in Aug '13, Lekha had gone into coma following epilieptic
episodes, at a frequency of 11/2 to 2 hrs, for 48 hrs. The, then, 72 year old Joseph Kurien, the
Superintendent of the Lisie Hospital was her saviour and being a fighter herself, she'd come
back to life. She was comatose for a week and it was established that she suffered from the
deadly SLE(Systemic Lupus Erythmatosus). With intense physiotherapy over six months, we
got her to walk and use her hands all over again
(k) I wanted to get a second opinion and had asked for a transfer to New Delhi and it was the turn
of the late Lt Col Achuthan Kannampilly, the Rheumatologist, Ashok Kumar, the immunologist
and B Ramachandran, the Physiatrist who'd tended and nurtured Lekha over the next 17 yrs,
commencing Apr '94.
(l) For the first 9 years, she was under steroids which was followed by a spell of no medicines
and towards the last 8 years, she has been on Quinine which is an effective antidote.
(m) She's now under the care of Padmanabha Shenoy, the Rheumatologist, based at Nettoor in
Ernakulam and is poised to meet him next on 05 Jun, as part of the quarterly review.
Lekha is a fighter and she lives a normal life with the little deformities, consequent to the epileptic attacks of '93. It's a great comfort to have her beside me and she's my able navigator when we go on long drives. Our life together has been a roller coaster ride with plenty of action and a great circle of friends.
It's simply great to have her around and I value her sane inputs on many aspects of life. God, please do take care of her......for me.
Tailpiece.
Had met Dr. Ramachandran along with the latest results on my sugar levels. The medicines have been tweaked and I'm supposed to take another set of readings after a week and convey them to him!
I know that these are illusory thoughts and are not achievable due to the cosmic truth of life.
So, I shall do the next best thing and that's to recount the milestones in our lives that happened on or after 16 May '91. So, here I go:-
(a) Ammachi (Mrs PN Panicker) telling me after the wedding ceremony was over that she didn't
mind passing away, now that she has seen my marriage. I never knew that it would turn out to
be prophetic. I'd told her that she and Muthachhan must come and stay with us at our house in
Ooty. Her reply, "You tell Muthachhan and I shall make sure that we come and stay with you
to your hearts' content"shall always remain an unfinished dream for me.
(b) On the first week of Jun, we'd proceeded to Wellington so that I could join the 47th Staff
Course. Our first house was 28/2, Gorkha Hill which we'd furnished with items bought off
the shelf at Wellington and the soft furnishings from Coimbatore.
(c) Ammachi passes into the mist of time on 25 Jul. I'm not informed about her passing away
because they did not want me to break the course! I come to know of it during the tutorial
break.
(d) Lekha has continuous temperature and pain in the joints and I take her to Lt Col Bhatta, the
Medical Specialist who's taken aback when Lekha's weight was noted to be 25 kgs. He tells
me not to worry but a look at his face tells me that I should. Her blood samples were sent to
Bombay and Bangalore for further tests to rule out Lupus phenomenon.
(e) I go for the FAT(Forward Area Tour) and prior to that, drop her with my parents at Raj Nivas
in early Sep '91.
(f) She's put on ayurvedic treatment under the care of Dr. KMK Labba, our family friend and
dad's classmate and friend.
(g) Realised during the next tutorial break that Lekha would never join me back at Wellington
because of her medical condition. She was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis and the
treatment had begun.
(h) When I'd asked my dad as to why he and mom were bearing the brunt of looking after Lekha,
my dad's words were, "Looking after your wife is a rare privilege. You don't worry about
us. Concentrate on your studies". Thus I was a forced bachelor from Sep '91 to the end of the
course, in Apr '92.
(j) I was posted at the Headquarters, Southern Naval Command in the Training Division with
Cmde KP Mathew at the helm when in Aug '13, Lekha had gone into coma following epilieptic
episodes, at a frequency of 11/2 to 2 hrs, for 48 hrs. The, then, 72 year old Joseph Kurien, the
Superintendent of the Lisie Hospital was her saviour and being a fighter herself, she'd come
back to life. She was comatose for a week and it was established that she suffered from the
deadly SLE(Systemic Lupus Erythmatosus). With intense physiotherapy over six months, we
got her to walk and use her hands all over again
(k) I wanted to get a second opinion and had asked for a transfer to New Delhi and it was the turn
of the late Lt Col Achuthan Kannampilly, the Rheumatologist, Ashok Kumar, the immunologist
and B Ramachandran, the Physiatrist who'd tended and nurtured Lekha over the next 17 yrs,
commencing Apr '94.
(l) For the first 9 years, she was under steroids which was followed by a spell of no medicines
and towards the last 8 years, she has been on Quinine which is an effective antidote.
(m) She's now under the care of Padmanabha Shenoy, the Rheumatologist, based at Nettoor in
Ernakulam and is poised to meet him next on 05 Jun, as part of the quarterly review.
Lekha is a fighter and she lives a normal life with the little deformities, consequent to the epileptic attacks of '93. It's a great comfort to have her beside me and she's my able navigator when we go on long drives. Our life together has been a roller coaster ride with plenty of action and a great circle of friends.
It's simply great to have her around and I value her sane inputs on many aspects of life. God, please do take care of her......for me.
Tailpiece.
Had met Dr. Ramachandran along with the latest results on my sugar levels. The medicines have been tweaked and I'm supposed to take another set of readings after a week and convey them to him!
No comments:
Post a Comment