The Way to a New Beginning

Just when one intended to relax -warming bones in the cozy, wintry afternoon sunlight; escaping the cold in a well-heated room; or enjoying the comfort of a temperature-controlled air-conditioned room, reading and reflecting on larger issues of the surrounding and the world; and occasionally being lost in the reveries of a delightful life-unexpectedly one had to confront a challenge that intimidated oneself, asking for immediate attention, demanding a solution unknown to one's level of consciousness at the time.

- Sreelekha Chatterjee

This was exactly what had happened to me a few days ago when my sixty-year-old body was diagnosed with a serious end-stage renal disease, known as kidney failure in layman's terms.I would have continued spending my life the way it had been for the past forty years with my loving husband and my children, following the mundane, yet comfortable, routine, if I hadn't come across this insurmountable health hurdle.

My routine life-waking up at five o'clock in the morning, completing my morning rituals by seven and getting ready, reaching my school where I taught biology to students from classes six to ten, finishing my routine by four, and returning home at five to complete the rest of the chores that every evening had to offer and go to bed by suddenly received a blow that changed me completely, leaving me contemplating on the next course of action. My thoughts embroiled me in a difficult state of turmoil from which I wasn't able to withdraw myself.

"What's the matter, ma?" My only daughter Sukanya asked, observing me engrossed in this self-searching mode, and in a state of mute melancholy.

"Nothing. It's just that..." My voice trailed away in an uncomfortable, unknown world.

"I know what you are thinking about, ma. I will donate my kidney and you'll be fine." She said in a matter-of-fact manner, looking after my retreating figure.

"No, that's not a good option. What will happen if my body doesn't respond to your kidney?" I spoke, between reminiscent pauses, while my eyes wandered around the bookshelves, leading up to the window and the sky beyond it, which seemed paltry, colorless.

"Medical science has advanced a lot. There wouldn't be any such problem." She said smilingly, regarding me with a glint in her eyes.