Lion Hearted: A Story of Endless Human Spirit!

Having arrived in the early hours of the day and jet lagged I was ready by 6am to go visit the Lion. Though I have been constantly following up on what is going on I didn’t necessarily have a mental picture of how in this case the Lion would look like. As soon as I arrive he summons me into this room. There in the corner he was sitting all his 6’2” frame with oxygen supply and lumbering breath. The face is all swollen way beyond his old self. The body complexion has changed to charcoal black with all the chemo intake. His once mighty legs are almost with no muscle and the feet are swollen by multiple inches. Even abdomen is bloated to some degree. He was battling low blood pressure and was constipated too. His brother was trying to consult his family member who is a doctor on what to do with blood pressure but the reassuring voice comes from the lion “I spoke to Dr. Patil and this BP numbers though low he says it is ok!”. He was cajoled to take some supplement for his BP and with difficulty he finishes. Since it is good to be in supine position for his BP he wanted to lie down. His brother who has been serving 24x7 for the past 3 weeks comes to his side to support. The Lion slowly counts 1,2 and a 3 and with enormous summoning of energy gets up and says “Krishnaa..krishnaa..”. Finally he dutifully follows his elaborate routine for lying down. To limit cough he lies to his side. He asks for a cushion to be placed between the legs. The reason being with almost all muscle gone it hurts him when one bone touches the other. He asks for oxygen and it to be placed at 3 liters. While this is all going he repeatedly tells his night nurse who overstayed to go eat his breakfast. He takes rest for couple of hours while coughing with a peculiar sound. He wants tissues placed very close to his pillow to wipe off. His niece who had just finished her MBBS arrives and takes over supporting her mama takes readings of his blood pressure and oxygen saturation. He wanted her to rub his back and the young girl repeatedly does so.

Couple of hours of rest helped him along with his easing of constipation and he was his old talking self. He wanted us to give a demo of the newly arrived recliner. He manages his now highly ritualized acts of standing up, walking few steps and then sitting down to the finest detail to avoid pain to his already battered body. By then his two other nieces arrive and he grills them on history, mythology and other topics. The girls were gracefully answering questions and at times lighten the mood with their ignorance in answers or questioning the uncle on random things. The doctor niece persistently reminds him that he has to eat his breakfast which he has been ignoring for a while. He asks what is it for breakfast and shoos it off. He wanted her to rub his sinus areas just above the eye repeatedly. Finally he relents on the breakfast and the girl stands next to him to feed. With great difficulty he eats 1.5 idlies. His sense of taste overtaken by medication makes nothing appetizing. He wanted to rest and wanted to try his new recliner. With lumbering difficulty he makes from one chair to the another. Thankfully the recliner was convenient and he liked it too. While others were talking around he dozes off for an hour. He wakes up and the dutiful niece fetches him water to wipe off his face. Finally he asks for a comb. Having lost his hair decades ago still demands his comb. The niece tries to comb a follicle here and there that is left and he takes objection to her in a jocular way. He says “ will you be okay if I comb your hair without your consent?” and then combs himself.

From his parents onwards everyone reminds to the deaf ears that it is 3pm and he has to eat something for lunch. He relents and his mother mixes rice with something she made for him and his niece is ready to feed him. She brings spoon to his mouth and he tells her I agreed to have my lunch but never gave her the green signal to be fed and jokes around that! By then he was constantly reminding me that I have to go and nap as I am sleep deprived from my long journey.

The lion is cornered physically. The majestic walk that he was famous for is no longer there. In the hours I spent with him never once there was any sense of despair or self pity. None of us was witness to Ramana Maharishi and his famous “naan yaar (who am I)” or to the Vedic “tatvam asi”. Here is someone undergoing unimaginable bodily pain and nothing touches his spirit! The fine de alienation between the body and the spirit is in full bloom. The sense of wit, sometimes self deprecating, grace and humanistic concerns from the breakfast of his night duty nurse to his elderly father’s walking stick are all there. The amazing mental faculties and simple pleasures he derives quizzing his nieces are in display even in the most trying of circumstances. The moral courage was always etched into his DNA. Normal human being wilt under simple duress. However, not this lion heart! The human spirit and the courage under fire is in full display and it teaches all of us a thing or two!