Chapter 62
"Sometimes the slightest things change the directions of our lives, the merest breath of a circumstance, a random moment that connects like a meteorite striking the earth. Lives have swiveled and changed direction on the strength of a chance remark."? Bryce Courtenay
There is a name seared in my memory from my school days in Besant arundale and the name is of a Assamese girl ' Tul Tul '.She was a student of dancing in the college of fine arts and was a few years older than me.She was a bubbly girl or looked bubbly whenever i saw her.She was there on a special scholarship and was under the care of our founder the late Rukmini devi arundale aka ATHAI.Tul Tul was a quiet girl who had lost her entire family in some tribal violence and that was not just what happened and the truth was TUL TUL was a few years old when she her entire family beheaded before her.I heard people whisper that the shock of seeing her family being killed was so great,that she lost her sense of speech for many years.
One day in my first month of my first year of hostel life,i went down to the beach and sat staring at the waves as they came again and again and beat themselves on the bosom of the shore.I heard loud grunts and squeals and what could be passed off as laughter and saw Tul Tul running around alone and playing with the waves.I smiled to myself and whispered to god " who ever you are,why make us and why put us all through so much sorrow and pain.why give so much pain that it kills the soul and makes us into monsters,for only as true evil can you,me and all of us cope with pain,soul pain.
Tul Tul came running and sat next to me and we both stared at the waves and then looked at each other and smiled sadly.same life,same pain,different bodies.Her eyes mirrored my thoughts and questions and i will never forget her sad smile and sad eyes.
Countdown to darkness
Our body is just a vessel and the brain itself a compartment in it and yet the mind dominates everything we do and even though we don't know or cannot see the processes that make up the mind and its subsequent actions it is ultimately the mind which guides us,makes us,breaks us in this destiny called life.That is why wise men keep saying " control your mind,control the world " and it doesn't immediately mean that you can rule and control the world for the world is just what you make of it and life.
The excitement of going with azhagan to see the king was too much for Avini and this led to a small mistake and the mistake was going off by herself to have a bath in the small stream called Sivatheertham.She went before light of the sun came up for she was so charged up that she thought she would not wait for the priests wife to help her bathe and yet she was not alone for the huge lion walked in the shadows as her personal bodyguard.
Avini took the usual path she had taken for so many years to reach the stream and yet today in her excitement she failed to see the small rock that had rolled down from the nearby hill.If avini had walked in the normal,usual, slow and careful manner she had done all her life she would have felt the rock and stepped around it but her pace and feet were quickened by excitement and fate and she stumbled and tumbled over the rock.The tumble was slow and avini put her arms out to slow her fall and thus the right arm met the ground with an impact and fractured itself.Even before the pain could register and before avini could scream out in terrible pain,the lion roared and azhagan jumped out of his sleep and let his mind drift out and he knew his mother was hurt.Like the very light itself he ran and was next to her in just a few moments.Though the pain was terrible,avini tried getting up but azhagan stopped her and asked her where it hurt and avini said it was her right arm.
Azhagan hoisted her on his shoulders and ran towards the house of the temple priest and called out for him.The priest hurriedly opened the door and seeing avini in azhagan's arms worriedly enquired what had happened.
Avini told him that in her excitement to be ready to leave to maduarai,she had gone of by herself to bathe and had stumbled over a small rock.
The temple priest well versed in the practice of Sushruta Samhita examined avini's arm and told azhagan that it was a fracture and nothing serious and would heal in a few months.He asked azhagan to bring pieces of bamboo that would fit around avini's forearm and then started cooking some concoction.He told his wife to go pick a few herbs and when she brought them to him,he added them all to the concoction,which all congealed into a foul looking paste.
He slowly dipped strips of cloth into the paste and wrapped them tightly around avini's wrists and told azhagan that it had to be tight but still allow blood to flow.After wrapping avini's wrists and forearm with these herbal strips of cloth,he took the bamboo pieces and slicing them,wrapped them around her forearm in a manner we today call splints.
The priest looked at avini and then at azhagan and said " nothing serious but she will need to rest for a few weeks without putting pressure or movement on her arm."
Azhagan hugged the priest and thanked him for caring for his mother and the priest looked at him " my child,what i have done is just dust compared to what you have done and given to this village and us.I am just thankful and grateful that i could be of service to you and your mother.so please don't thank me."
Avini looked at all of them and pitifully whimpered " does this mean that i cannot go to madurai with my son."
Azhagan sat next to her " forget madurai,forget the king for you will not be going anywhere until you are healed and i will not leave your side until that moment.Madurai,the king and everything else can wait and can happen when you are ready."
Avini shook her head " son,please don't say that for it will be like insulting the king.He has sent his ministers to personally escort you to the palace and it will look very bad if you did not go and the reason being that i am hurt and cannot travel.He has sent so many gifts and bestowed so much on this village and it will not only be rude if we and you don't reciprocate in the right manner,it will leave a bad mark on our village.So,please listen to me and remember that this village,our land,our king is more important than me or you.Go in peace but come back soon for i will be eagerly waiting for all the news that you will bring back about the palace and madurai."
Azhagan knew that what his mother was saying was right but his heart was not in it and it hurt terribly that he would have to leave his mother when she was hurt and not well.But in the end he agreed to go but he declared that it would only be the next day after making sure that avini was all right.
The Sushruta Samhita is an important Classical Sanskrit text on medicine, considered to be one of the earliest major works related to detailed study of medicine and surgery. Written by Sushruta, it is commonly dated to the period of 6th century BC.The Sushruta Samhita, in its extant form, in 184 chapters contains descriptions of 1,120 illnesses, 700 medicinal plants, 64 preparations from mineral sources and 57 preparations based on animal sources. The text discusses surgical techniques of making incisions, probing, extraction of foreign bodies, alkali and thermal cauterization, tooth extraction, excisions, and trocars for draining abscess, draining hydrocele and ascitic fluid, the removal of the prostate gland, urethral stricture dilatation, vesiculolithotomy, hernia surgery, caesarian section, management of haemorrhoids, fistulae, laparotomy and management of intestinal obstruction, perforated intestines, and accidental perforation of the abdomen with protrusion of omentum and the principles of fracture management, viz., traction, manipulation, appositions and stabilization including some measures of rehabilitation and fitting of prosthetics. It enumerates six types of dislocations, twelve varieties of fractures, and classification of the bones and their reaction to the injuries, and gives a classification of eye diseases including cataract surgery.
The text was translated to Arabic as Kitab-i-Susrud in the 8th century.
"Whatever happens, they say afterwards, it must have been fate. People are always a little confused about this, as they are in the case of miracles. When someone is saved from certain death by a strange concatenation of circumstances, they say that's a miracle. But of course if someone is killed by a freak chain of events -- the oil spilled just there, the safety fence broken just there -- that must also be a miracle. Just because it's not nice doesn't mean it's not miraculous."? Terry Pratchett, Interesting Times
Edited by s.satishkumar - 10 years ago
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