Among us are certain individuals endowed with extra ordinary power to laugh at odds, misfortunes, calamities befalling them and even when death confronting them. Like this time, I was on annual vacation in Kerala in December 2010. What a gulf goers usually do during their vacation, is to pay lightning visits to his friends and relatives to renew the friendship and refresh their memories. Last year when I called at the house of a close friend and former colleague of mine, his wife confided to us the painful story of his hospitalization and admission to ICU where he had to be kept for more than ten days and that all of them were alarmed at the possibility that they would not see him alive once again . I was at a loss how to face him or what to ask him , let alone console him. When I began to grope for words, my friend who had just been discharged from the hospital intervened and came to my rescue. He shook hands with me and began to enquire about my children especially about the elder ones who were so close to him while he was living in Doha. With smiling face he began to describe what he had happened to him: “My wife might have told you that I was in the hospital. It is because of the fact that we are sometimes compelled to remind others that there is an organ in our body called heart .I am a heart patient, and my wife is diabetic and therefore we are partners even in ill-health”. Since he was laughing when he spoke to us we shared his “joy”with difficulty. By the grace of God he is still leading normal life with his family at his native place.
The other day we had been to the house of a maternal uncle of my son in law who died of kidney failure. He had a history of struggle with diabetes. His house was packed with mourners from different walks of life.. I knew that he was not a political leader and that the mourners were not there to express their “deep shock at the irreparable loss or unbridgeable gap”. He was a common man who won their hearts through his lighthearted approach, simple life and innocent jokes. I know him since 2001 when the engagement ceremony of my daughter with his nephew was conducted. The ceremony had coincided with my eldest son’s admission to Aleppy Medical College. When he met my son during the ceremony he congratulated him saying “ I wish you all success. When you graduate and work as a doctor , I will come to see you with diabetes in my hand”. When I narrated this incident to one of the mourners, he testified that the deceased had always had an unusual sense of humour.
During the marriage ceremony of my daughter conducted after one year from the engagement, he noticed that the electric switch board in our living room was covered with clourful grazing papers normally used for wrapping presentation items. My daughter had done it not to expose the wooden box to the participants in the function. She told us that he had later asked her whether the switch board itself was one of the gifts presented to us on the occasion of her marriage.
When his father passed away a few months prior to his death , the newspaper that carried the death news introduced his brothers as retired engineer, Kerala State Electricity Board employee etc. whereas they had nothing to mention against his name . After reading the newspaper, he commented saying that he should have been introduced at least as a kidney patient.
Once a journalist colleague of my son in law fell unconscious and was taken to hospital where the doctors disclosed to him that he had only one kidney and that was why had fallen unconscious. When he resumed his duties after being discharged from the hospital he told his colleagues who congratulated him on his recovery: “ I have been, hither to, proud of being the owner two kidneys . You know the truth now. In lieu of being proud of having two kidneys, I suggest that all of you undergo a medical checkup. It is possible that some of you may have only one kidney .
The other day when I met a friend of mine I enquired about his younger brother who also close to me. He said that he met with an accident recently and died. Though I was sorry to learn about his sad demise, his brother narranted the incident in such a way that one would fee that his brother had gone for shoppping..
By the father
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