The idea for this week’s topic for our weekly 2 on 1 Friday blog post came when I was musing over my life while having my tea, early in the morning, sitting on my comfortable chair in our verandah, enjoying the fresh morning activities in our garden as well as watching the passing parade outside the garden.
There was much to be grateful on that particular morning as the previous evening I had had an attack of gastritis. Earlier in the day, I had over indulged in a favourite sweet dish called Mawa Jalebi that Ranjan had brought home from a Sweet Shop adjacent to the office of one of his clients. Late in the evening, I started feeling uneasy and by 9.00 pm was in great pain below the ribcage and despite taking some readily available antacids from the medicine chest, I was not getting any relief. Ranjan stepped out to check and found that our family doctor, whose clinic is just across the road from our home, was still open for consultation. I rang him up to check if I could come over. He was just about to close shop but, asked me to come over and I landed up at 9.45 pm at his clinic. He examined me and gave me the assurance that I will feel comfortable soon, dispensed some medicine, gave me an injection and I returned home. I started feeling better almost immediately and by 11.00 pm was fast asleep.
I said to myself that morning that, I was grateful for such a considerate son who brought my favourite sweet dish, I had medicines at home for emergency treatment, I was able to consult my family doctor despite the hour being late, at a clinic that was just across the road from my home, and was able to comfortably sleep the pervious night after having spent a very uncomfortable evening.
That reminiscing led me to consider how many things that I was grateful for in my life at that point of time and I drew up a list as follows.
1. A series of developments led me to settle down in Pune and buy a very comfortable home when I had had no plans to do that before those developments. All that happened after our moving to Pune in 1990 in this home, were, experiences that had brought me to this stage of life in my late seventies where, I can comfortably look back at my life and be content. Just imagine, my bank, hair dressing saloon, pedicurist, doctor and grocer are all just across the road from my home. I have many restaurants very near us where I can choose from a wide variety of cuisine to go to, or, order for home delivery.
2. I have a devoted son and a daughter in love, who mollycoddle me and spoil me silly.
3. Despite both hip joints having been replaced and revised twice each, and in addition, afflicted with COPD, I am able to live a comfortable life if not a very active one. I have a home that provides me with comfortable furniture and ambience that allows to live such a life.
4. I have an extended family who support and cheer me almost on a daily basis thanks to modern social media and telephony.
5. I have a wide circle of friends from all over the world who are in regular touch and, who too, cheer me up considerably.
6. I have enough resources to indulge in my passion for solving crossword puzzles and read.
7. I am blessed with very loyal and efficient help who have been with us for decades and who are now part of our family. They are available to be summoned on a 24/7 basis and that is a great feeling of security when, my son and daughter in love, take the odd vacation and, I have to be alone at home.
8. I have two dogs at home who seem to have ESP and come to be next to me whenever I feel a bit melancholic. They act like pick me ups that act magically and the mood changes almost instantly.
9. There are many more smaller things in my life about which I am very grateful, listing of which will however bore my readers.
Let me therefore share the biggest development for which I am most grateful. It was my doctor ringing me up the following day after my consultation, to check how I was. When he found me quite cheerful and back to my normal flippant self, he said -” You are very lucky that it was not a heart attack which I had to eliminate first in my examination, as you had pain in your chest.” I quipped – “Thank God that it was only a fart attack!”
Are you surprised that I am very grateful for a naturally endowed with, sense of humour?
Please do go over to Shackman’s blog to see what he has to say on the topic. Thank you.