Faith in the face of asperity

Imagine losing both your parents. Being married for 11yrs, trying every way but not having kids. Imagine that for the last 8-10 yrs you’ve been suffering with various aches and pains which eventually were revealed to be because of a cancerous growth in the uterus. Also there’s another small tumor in your liver. You are facing a major surgery and possibility that the tumor in your liver is also cancerous. On the evening before your major surgery, what would you be doing?

Lying hopeless in the hospital? Blaming fate and God for all the bad things happening to you? Feeling dejected and depressed? Angry? Hurt?

Read on…

Location: Pushpanjali Crosslay Hospital, Vaishali – bed number 322. I am with my one month old daughter who has been admitted for pertussis / pneumonia. It’s a twin-sharing room so another family joins us on bed number 321 the night before our discharge.

The patient is a middle aged woman, I’ll call her “Prerna”. As we start exchanging our stories, she tells me, “I lost my mom when I was very young. My dad expired a few days ago. I don’t have any kids. We’ve been married for 11 yrs. Tried all sorts of medicines etc to help conceive,  but no luck. However I am lucky to have my husband. He is a god-sent man. Men (specially in India) treat women very badly when they cannot bear a child. Even when the problem is with the man’s health, the woman will always be blamed and punished for not being able to have kids. But my husband loves me no matter what. He treats me with respect and kindness. After all whatever is happening to me is Allah’s wish. I am sure he does have something good for me, too.”

I was moved to tears. Here was a woman who had all the reasons to spread hatred and ill-will, sorrow and dejection but she chooses to do otherwise. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, indulging in sorrow, she counts her blessings. She recognized the kindness in her husband, was thankful for him and asked blessings for him. She continued to pray and chant her routine prayers even when nurses came over to administer IV injections or fluids. Whole night she went through blood transfusion which was quite an ordeal, but she bore it with a very brave heart. Morning she was sitting in her bed and praying as per her ritual again. She had not let adversity disturb her faith in God for the last several years. I was stumped by her courage.

“Prerna”, meaning inspiration – what else can you name her?

p.s. The doctors operated on our dear Prerna didi successfully yesterday and also did tests on the growth in the liver. It was found to be non-cancerous. Do send your prayers and wishes for her speedy recovery!