Rain drops

A Mother’s sentiments about her daughter with ‘special’ eyes.

Mole (phrase for referring to your daughter fondly in Malayalam), the most exciting thing happened to me today! I want so much to tell you all about it and share my excitement with you, but at three years of age you wouldn’t understand the significance of my discovery

You were right, Mole ; I heard the rain drops  fall today. I was sitting right here on our balcony  , looking out into the sunset , when I heard it. The autumn breeze was stiff, and the coconut trees were swaying . The clouds had become dark and the  sunrays had long disappeared. This they have done for hundreds of years—but today was different—at least for me—because I heard it. I heard it for the first time …..

Ever since we learned how seriously impaired your special eyes were, I have tried to teach you more about this world. I’ve struggled to explain what clouds look like, about the beauty of trees and the rich green of the paddyfields. And oh, how we’ve argued. You say the trees are fighting; I say the wind moves them so that their branches bump into each other. You say the sky looks the same throughout , I say it depends on the time of the day and the season. And I’ve tried to explain that we don’t hear rain drops falling we see them and at the most we can feel the drops.

Today, as I sat alone on the step, I shut my eyes and listened. It was one of those rare moments when I didn’t need to be anywhere or do anything. I just listened. And then I heard them. I heard the leaves rustle in the air as they fell—bumping into each other. When they reached their destination, they tumbled across each other as the breeze stirred them. An then I heard the rain drops… The beautiful sound they made when they caressed the Earth’s soil. The puddle of water splashing as the new rain drops joined them. The restless chirping of the birds. A soft thunder filled my ears. I can hear without straining now. I just needed to tune down my own mind so that I could hear. My closed eyes filled with tears as I listened..

I listened to the rain drops for the first time…..Mole , I love you.

 You don’t see much anymore, but God has given you perceptions that I can’t understand. Thank you for sharing a little bit of your gift with me. Thank you for insisting that I listen...to the rain drops.

Thank You

It was the time of the year when the Monsoons had just set in. I had a long day at work and had returned to my newly renovated apartment. There was a dusty fragrance in the evening air as the Earth received its first showers of the season. I sipped on a hot cup of tea as I sat in my balcony gazing at the sky. I was disturbed. The lady’s voice reverberated within me.

“Thank you Doctor” , was what she had told me with her eyes looking straight into my eyes. The coldness of her stare was still haunting me . A month before, this lady had brought her 8 month old baby girl to me after the baby had supposedly fallen of the bed. Xrays revealed a fracture of one of her bones of her leg for which I put her on a plaster cast. Once the general anaesthetic wore of the baby was shifted to the recovery room where I saw the baby along with her Mother. My attention was diverted from my examination of the limb in the plaster cast and the sound of the crying child  to the infants fingers which were pressing vigourously on her own eyelids. She was also trying to poke her own eyes. I looked up at the Mother and she spontaneously said that something must have gone in the baby’s eyes and lifted the baby at the same time blowing into its eyes.  I reassured the Mother everything was alright and told her to come and meet me after 3 weeks.

I did some research on this peculiar behavior of the child.

Promptly three weeks later , the mother and the child came to me. X-rays showed the fracture had healed and I took her of her plaster cast. As soon as I had removed the cast the child started to press and tap her eyelids.

I send the child with the Mother for an inter departmental reference .

Today my fear had come true when the Mother came to me with the child in her arms.

She looked at me and said “Thank you Doctor , for sending me to the Eye Doctor who has diagnosed that my little girl is blind....”

She turned and walked out of my consultation room.

I took another sip of my hot tea and looked at the evening sky. The rains had stopped. The sun rays streaked through the dark clouds reminding me of the various gifts of the Lord that we all take for granted.

This THANKYOU will remain in my mind for a really long time ...