YES, SOME STORMS COME TO CLEAR OUR PATH

“Not all storms come to disrupt your life;

Some come to clear your path.”

-         Unknown

The evening before I was to be hospitalized (I was to be operated the next day for the removal of my cancer-affected kidney), my wife quietly visited our parish church, and spent some moments alone before the Blessed Sacrament. The week before that, ever since my condition was accidentally, diagnosed, she had been through a great deal of anxiety. From the initial denial to eventual acceptance, yes, she had passed through it all. And, like Jesus Christ had done, the evening before he was nabbed, tortured and crucified, alone in the Gethsemane Garden, going down on His knees – ‘Father, if it’s possible, do away this test from me. But, it’s not my will, Thy will be done’ – yes, like Christ had done, now, my wife had been there before Christ to plead the same: ‘Father, if it’s possible, do away this test from us. But, it’s not our will, Thy will be done!’

I could sense the peace when my wife had come home from her own Gethsemane Experience!

Well, I, too, came home, nearly a month in the hospital, after passing through some anxious moments. In the end, the Lord had been merciful… Maybe, He had better plans for me… 

I said, ‘Maybe’…

“Not all storms come to disrupt your life,” I came across this quote the other day, “Some come to clear your path.”

How true!

A lot of stuff in my life had been ‘useless’ – totally meaningless. But, this storm had to come to clear my own path… Yes, I have dropped a great deal of that useless stuff…

In life, 'Thy will be done,' is the most powerful experience, I believe.

Letting go, Acceptance, Surrender… We use all these words almost mechanically, and we do it so often. I, too, had done that so frequently. But, experiencing it - living that moment of letting go and surrender - is something, I think, only the ‘storm’ could bring about in me and my wife. It has brought both of us closer, and it has brought us on our knees…  We now find ourselves saying, ‘Thank You’ every time we breathe!

For a month now, my wife and I have been looking forward to Sunday evenings. My wife was born and brought up in Mumbai. She is 52 now. I have spent two-third of my 60-year life here in this city. But, frankly, we both have not experienced the moments in some of the amazing places of our city… So, lately, every Sunday, we have been leaving home around 4 or 4.30 for a lovely public spot. We both love the Marine Drive – the entire ‘Queen’s Necklace’… So, one Sunday, we walked from the NCPA-end at Nariman Point to the Chowpati beach. It’s a stretch of almost four kilometers. Along the stretch, we sat for some time to behold the glorious sunset… We indulged in the small pleasures of the Mumbai bhel… the ten-rupee coffee, and, that million-dollar experience of being alone, together!

The following Sunday, we were off to our favourite shrine – Mount Mary at Hill road, Bandra. We spent close to thirty minutes being there quietly… Tears simply roll down my cheeks every time I sit quietly in this church. Hundreds of souls come there – who belong to different faiths, places and class. They all come there and do what I do… Perhaps, to plead for the ‘storm’ to pass… or, perhaps, to thank for the storm which has cleared their path… Yes, just as in my case…

Walking down from Mount Mary to Band Stand and spending some simple moments watching the sunset again, walking all the way from Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Mannat’ to Salman Khan’s ‘Galaxy Apartments’… yes, this is the simple-man’s simple pleasure!

Last Sunday, we made it to the Juhu beach. A few steps before reaching this beach, we passed by Amitabh Bachchan’s famous bungalow, ‘Jalsa’. Scores of his fans were waiting outside for the evening darshan of their deity. Though I am a die-hard fan of Amitabh, I had no desire to do this kind of darshan. At least not on last Sunday!

Our friend, Ashok, (who lives in Varsova), often, goes for his early-morning walk to Juhu beach. He had told me about his amazing experience, many times. But, going to Juhu beach on a Sunday evening is like going to Kumbh Mela… just crazy! As both, my wife and I, had never been there before, we had asked Ashok to join us. He took us towards the left-hand side of the beach, where less number of people moved. The right-hand side was the Kumbh site! We three walked all the way to the fisher-men jetty’s end… Sun had long gone down, but Juhu beach was brightly lit… Young boys played football on the flat beach (It was low tide)… We could really feel the sand beneath our feet and the cool breeze over our shoulders… We walked all the way to the ISKCON (Hare Rama Hare Krishna) temple end. I had been wanting to visit this temple for long. Ashok being a regular visitor to this temple, he took us there just as the last aarti began… There are three altars of Lord Krishna and aartis take place before all three altars simultaneously. My wife, Ashok and I simply merged with the devotees and sang ‘Hare Rama… Hare Krishna’… We clapped… We raised our hands… When the priests sprinkled holy water on the devotees, a couple of drops fell on us, too… We felt blessed, touched by His mercy!

Today is a Sunday again… We are looking forward to visit another iconic shrine – Haji Ali. It will be a first-time experience for both of us… We are excited about it. For the walk, we have the amazing Worli sea-face. Though we both have walked there before, this evening will be a new one…

The storm has cleared the path, you see!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Rekha Srikar Shenoy

Video: George Baker/ARCADENL/YouTube