WALKING ON OUR KNEES
“And when the brokenhearted people living in the world agree
There
will be an answer, let it be…
(From the song ‘Let it Be’
by The Beatles)
Some
weeks ago, my wife and I had been for a wedding reception of one of our
relatives. The venue was quite an exotic one – a beautiful resort near Madh
Island… It was an intimate guestlist, where one could, literally, notice what
each guest was doing. I say this, because, in the midst of good music, dance,
drinks and food, one of our relatives came up to me, and leaning towards me, he
tried to say this: “Creative people find themselves lost in the crowd.”
That’s when I realized,
how ‘lost’ I was in that beautiful celebration. The man, who had come to say
that statement into my ears, had added this: “My son is a writer; you remind me
of him.”
I do not know,
whether all creative people – writers, painters, poets, every other – ‘get lost’
like this in the crowd… I do not know, if it is good or bad… I do not even know
if I can call myself ‘creative’… but, yes, invariably, I know this: “I am
there, but I am not there”!
These
days, my body clock makes me get up around 4 in the morning to use the
washroom. Last morning, while I was quietly trying to go back to sleep, I heard
my wife whisper in the darkness, “Remember last year? At 4 in the morning, Dad
had passed away.”
It was a very
difficult week just before my father-in-law had passed away. Following a
stroke, he was taken to the hospital. But, we were advised to treat him at home…
A room at home was turned into an ICU, with every possible medical equipment
and a professional male-nurse was hired to look after Dad round-the-clock… Dad
did not regain his lost consciousness… So, on Feb., 1, last year, when there
was a knock at our room-door, at 4 in the morning, my wife and I, both, knew what it was!
Yesterday happened
to be a Wednesday. My wife was very keen
to attend a Novena at the Mahim church. She would, often, recall how her Dad
attended Wednesday Novenas for several years despite his changing work-shifts. The
untimely death of his brother and sister-in-law had orphaned their four little
children. My father-in-law, who was worried about these innocent children, would
go to Mother Mary’s shrine with great faith… Today, the families of those four ‘little
children’ have blossomed into fragrant gardens. My wife would, also, recall
about the regular hospital visits her dad did just to comfort the sick…
Yesterday, when
my wife and I attended the evening Novena, as usual, the church was packed with
devotees – young and old, Christians and non-Christians, Indians and foreigners,
all… Each one had come to Mary’s door with his/her own worries and burdens. I
may be wrong when I say this: Most of us go to God’s door when we are helpless
and anxious; when all is well, we may go there, but our prayers are seldom as
intense. I said, that I may be wrong when I say this.
The sight that
brought me to my knees came at the end of the Novena… when I saw scores of
devotees walk all the way from behind to Mother Mary’s altar on their knees… A quiet
promise, perhaps… But, what a way to surrender and say, “Mother, help me”!
My wife and I
just stood there saying nothing – but, saying everything…
This time, I was
there; and, I won’t say ‘I was not there’!
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic.: Pixabay
Video: Andres Macnamara - Let it Be (The Beatles)
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