I was watching Demon Slayer in my room, I’m in love with the anime genre after watching the Naruto series. Dad came in his wheelchair to my room and went towards my bed and he got into my bed. He has never done this in my entire life and I believe it’s the effect of our small talk.

I asked him about his life in America. He was so happy to hear that question and started to talk about it. The first place He saw in America was New York. From New York the company which hired him took him to Texas where He was going to work. He got terminated from the work and got scared. He contacted Richi uncle who was settled in Texas and told him about his situation. 

Richi Uncle was a very calm person. After hearing the situation Richi Uncle told Dad not to panic and asked Dad to pack his bags. Richi Uncle took him to his house and he settled there temporarily. Richi Uncle suggested that he get a car license. To get a car license in Texas was very difficult. He traveled to Louisiana and took the license from Louisiana.  

One day He went to an office party and after the party when He came out the road was covered with snow. He drove the car but it was sliding in the snow and He somehow stopped the car and got out. Luckily one of his colleagues saw him and helped him to put a snow chain over the tyre. The colleague asked him to follow his car and they reached back the camp safely.

Leo Paul helped him with a job in Rhode Island. He packed his bags and went to Rhode Island via New York. His friend Xavier was settled in New York and he stayed with him whenever he went to New York. The work in Rhode Island was amazing. He got into a ship manufacturing company, But it didn’t last either and got terminated.

 He came to know of an opening In South Carolina and took a bus from New York to South Carolina. The bus journey was very comfortable, he was amazed to see that there was only a driver in the bus. He worked in South Carolina for two months and came back to New York. From there he went to Wisconsin for his next job. He stayed in Wisconsin for around 6 months. Wisconsin become his favourite place in America because of the punctuality and kindness of the people.

He bought a car with George and they decided to have a road trip to South Carolina from Wisconsin. On the way they halted at Chicago and stayed there. The next day He drove the car and He was pulled over by the police. The police told him that someone had complained saying the people in this car were drunk. Police found out that they were not drunk and asked them to resume the journey.

He stayed in South Carolina for three months and moved to Atlanta. The nightlife in Atlanta was very much active. He worked in the gas station for 3 months and his health was getting bad due to cold weather. Dad decided to come back and took a flight to New York. 

By now Mom came to my room asking what was happening. It was getting late and Dad got into the wheelchair and went back to his room.

There is a story in everyone, if you listen.

Dad, Dad, Dad … I was shouting over the phone with my list,

Yes, He is coming tomorrow, After a year !!!

I was looking towards the faces that are coming out of the sliding door,

The face which is etched in my mind, Where is he? I asked Mom.

She said look over there, He was waving his hands towards us.

I jumped the fence and ran towards him, 

He picked me up and put me in the trolley and pushed towards the exit.

I was sitting in the trolley like a prince, See my Dad is here !!!

As I grew up, the bond between us started to grow apart.

We talked rarely and mostly when I needed something or him to Scold Me

What happened between Us?

People were blaming me for things I didn’t do,

He came and asked me, What happened?

I opened my mind, He stood there listening patiently.

He took command over the situation,

And stood against the world that was crushing us Down.

He was the pillar and we won that fight against all odds.

He taught me to fight for the loved ones, 

He taught me to talk about what’s in your heart.

He taught me to stand still during the storm.

I remember the day, 

When he was disappointed hearing that I don’t want to do Engineering 

I remember the day, 

When he was angry hearing that I had crashed our bike.

I remember the day

When he was happy that I had graduated.

I remember the day

When he was proud to hear that I had got a Rank in MCA Entrance.

I remember the day

When he was trembling, Seeing my Mom in the ICU.

I remember the day

When he was not able to breathe.

I remember the day,

Where he was afraid to do his first dialysis.

I remember the day

When he was crying in the hospital bed losing his leg.

I remember the day

When he was able to walk with his prosthetic leg.

I promise you Dad, 

We will stand together and face the storms.

Dad was tired, he said he needed rest for now; I helped him to sit down and sat next to him. It was a pleasant evening, Dad was training with his prosthetic leg and today he was doing very good. A year ago he had to amputate his left leg due to lack of blood circulation. My mind was drifting towards the hospital days and to distract my thoughts I asked him about his childhood.

One of his favourite memories is the one where he and his friends used to collect cashews and sell it for their pocket money. They used this cash to watch movies from the nearby theatre. I was so amazed to hear that they were involved in creating our village sports ground. In their times, the sports Ground was situated at another place and the owner sold the place, so they had to move all the clay to the new property and thus giving birth to our new sports ground.

When he was in 10th Standard or so, my Grandpa came back from Singapore losing his job and he was furious about anything and everything. Grandpa asked my Dad to leave the house and after that he stayed with his relatives. He stayed with his uncle in Pettah, where he took an admission for him in the ITI and that’s where he learned welding. One of our uncles was working in Siemens Chennai and he asked my Dad to join them, so he took a train to Chennai and started his first Job. He worked in Chennai for two years and was taking care of the family by now. He came to know about the opportunity in Mumbai Branch and by now his sister was married and was settled in Mumbai.

The Job in Mumbai excited him and luckily his supervisor liked him very much and he was assigned to take care of contract jobs in various parts of Northern India. When he was in Mumbai he stayed with his sister. After three years, Grandma asked our relative to take a visa for him to Dubai. They pledged his sister’s gold for the visa and ticket amount. This time he didn’t take a train, rather a flight to Dubai! 

While he was working in Dubai, he came to know that opportunities and payment in Abu Dhabi was comparatively much more than Dubai, so he decided to shift to Abu Dhabi. Eventually he got a job there in Power House Electrical company, which was a government job. It was the happiest day of his entire life.

By now the mosquitoes were starting to attack us. I told Dad that it’s better to get inside now and I helped him get up and walked back towards our house.

I was back from office and no one was at home. I took my tea and shuffled through my movie collection, selected  the movie ‘The Great Wall’ and started watching it. At some point my phone rang and I took it. When I picked it up, a scream was heard from the other side. It was Dad and he was screaming “Jiffinnnn come fast Mom has been hit by an auto”. His voice was breaking.

I jumped off from my seat and went to the place where it happened. My mind was racing fast and it was saying to kill that auto driver. How dare he could hit my Mom!!! Just then I saw my car coming from the opposite side. It was raining heavily, they slowed near me and said to come to the hospital. I couldn’t see Mom .I went ahead of them clearing the way as I could.

When I had reached the hospital, my friend dad was there. He said to take her to another hospital as the hospital didn’t have any neurology department. My brain was shutdown and all I was thinking was where they were, as they should have reached by then. They reached after some time. No one in that bloody hospital came to help Mom out of the car. When I opened the door, she was saying something. I tried to talk while she was taken out. She was holding the seat tightly and not letting go of it. Somehow me and my cousin lifted her up and brought her to the casualty. When we laid her on the bed, blood started to flow. The Doctor who came to check saw this and asked us to take her to another hospital. I told her to do some first aid for stopping the blood and then called an ambulance, as I said “we are taking her to another hospital”. When I saw the blood from her brain, my mind was saying “It’s the same wound which was on your friend who passed away a few months away”.

Dad was shivering and was not talking a word. The ambulance came pretty fast. I told everyone who came with Mom to go with the ambulance and that I will take the car and follow them. Ambulance went past when I reached the car and saw it was open with parking lights on and the seats were covered with blood. Somehow I got up and followed the ambulance. On my way, I called my brother, cousin and friends to reach the hospital.By then, the ambulance was not in my sight.

When I reached the hospital, the ambulance was parked near the casualty. I saw my cousin at the bill counter giving them my Mom’s details and paying the amount they have asked. She was in the Emergency room and I went inside. The doctors were rushing towards her as she had started to cry with pain. I was stuck there seeing that. My mind was away as someone started asking me questions, and I could not hear anything. Somehow I came back to reality and realized that the person in front of me was the doctor who was asking me about Mom’s tablets, previous surgeries, medical history etc. He told me to be there. Meanwhile my cousin had also come inside the Emergency room and seeing him I wanted to cry aloud, but somehow I held up. He then talked to the doctors and I just stood there not knowing what to do. By then, a nurse came with Mom’s belongings and said to keep it. Mom has started to scream “Ammaaaa” aloud, when the doctors were trying to figure out where she had injuries. She would scream aloud all the time and this made it difficult for them to identify the wounds. While she was taken to do the CT scans, a nurse came and told me to accompany them. As we lifted her from the trolley to scan, she started to cry in pain. They gave me a jacket and told to hold Mom’s hand so that she would lie still during the scan. She was screaming during the initial scan, and after all the scans were done we went back to the emergency room. By now she was dozed off with drugs and not responding very well.  After a while, she started to shiver and started crying again. As we got the results of the scan, the doctors said “There is a puncture wound in the brain and her pelvic bone is broken, we will be shifting her to Trauma ICU”.

By now everyone had come to the hospital. When I went outside, Dad was sitting there shivering. He was still in shock and some of the people who came there was telling that it was his fault of parking. I went and bought a cup of coffee for dad and told not to listen to anyone, there is nothing to worry, and that she will be okay.

After sometime, she was shifted to Trauma ICU and they allowed us to see her. When I went inside, she was shivering. I had a conversation with the nurse on the dosage of insulin she was taking, the surgeries she had done and told her that I will bring the pills she is taking for diabetics as soon as possible. But the nurse said there is no need of any rush, as it was okay to bring those tomorrow. My brother and cousin said thay they would stay there and as we were not supposed to wait outside the ICU, we had to wait in the waiting hall. They asked me to take dad home and by then it was 2am. On the way back to home, we went to the police station and logged a complaint against the auto. As dad was not able to note down the auto registration number, it was a dead end.

He explained how the accident happened. “It was raining heavily, and as they had only one umbrella, he dropped Mom at the passenger door and went to the driver’s seat.That’s when the auto came and hit mom. She flew away and dropped near the back tyre. The auto stopped and the driver came. I was busy calling out for nearby people to help out and by the time I looked back, the auto and the driver had vanished”

I was praying to God to keep her safe. We reached home, I tried to sleep but my brain was not in a mood to shut down. When it was 5am, I went back to the hospital. Visiting time was from 6am to 8am. I went and saw Mom and she was sleeping peacefully. By then, the head nurse came and told that the senior doctors will be there by 8am and asked me to wait outside until they arrive. I waited at the hallway praying under my breath ‘Hail Mary’. After some time the doctors came and said there is no need for any operations, but that she should be kept under observation for some days. I informed the same to my brother and cousin who were awake during the night, waiting at the hallway, and told them to get some sleep.

On the third day she was shifted to a room. Everytime she tried to move, there was pain, but she had no idea of the accident, and didn’t know where she was. Her memory would come and go often. During the night she will try to remove the drip saying “Why are we here”. She was discharged on the 5th day. The doctors and the physiotherapist told not to mind the pain and asked us to make her walk with that pain, or else she will never walk again. Our first task  was to make her stand and when we helped her to stand she would scream. We had to make her stand with all that pain.

“ It’s so painful to hear the scream of your loved ones and it’s more painful when you’re helpless to do something to ease that pain”.

After a month, we had some improvements. She was now able to stand for a few minutes. We had brought her a wheel chair and we often took her outside to make her feel better. We made her to take baby steps, which resulted in huge screams, and the neighbors would then rush to our home asking what had happened. We hired a physiotherapist to help her, and she was a big help to us. Her exercises were showing good results.

After 5 months……

She is now able to walk without any screaming. The good thing is that she has no recollection of the accident or the hospital days. She still needs some help to walk, I’m sure she will be able to walk without any help in a few months and I’m thankful to GOD for bringing her back to us and giving us the courage to withstand the bad days.