The Final Trap – Death Defying Dad – Part 3 of 3

 

Most of the children born in the early 80’s in India, who had access to a TV at home, will recollect having just one channel in TV those days. It was a national broadcast by the government and was called Doordarshan. Obviously, the number of programs were all defined well in advance with very few live programmes unlike today, where majority of channels do live streaming.

Among the limited set of programs on TV, there was one animated series called He-Man & The Masters of the Universe. It was quite natural that He-Man became my favourite superhero for all the amazing things he did to save the world.

But even before I knew He-Man, there was another man who was already my superhero, my dad. He did the most amazing things which a child would only imagine superheroes will do for them. Be it taking you to various places in and around during vacations or buying the tiny pottery set from the local market so that we kids could play ‘family’ along with our cousins in a makeshift house creatively carved out of the cardboard box of a recently purchased refrigerator. The list was endless. 

While dad did this and many other things for me and our family, he lived through his life with one motto. Live life to the fullest. He always used to say that you are given just one chance to live and make the best out of it. He also had a deep-rooted belief that eventually when death catches up with him, it will be an instant one. And so, he lived his eventful life, till one fine day in 2021, during Covid times as the world was reeling in the greatest pandemic ever known to the history of mankind.

A bit of a blood stain in his faecal matter was where it all started. A quick test at a local hospital led to the doctors finding out something was wrong. More advanced tests followed and by the time the New Year celebrations concluded for 2021, the diagnosis confirmed that his colon had embraced one of the most dreaded diseases in the world, cancer!

I still remember the first conversation with him over the phone as soon as the news was known. His response was typical of his personality. As with most things, he simplified it as though it was a bit of a dirt on his body which needed to be washed off. That was dad.

A couple of surgeries and a few rounds of chemo followed and a year later he was declared free of the ‘dirt’. Needless to say, we all were quite happy and relieved to see even cancer bent down before his will.

Dad did get to replace the calendar at home one more time before he handed over that responsibility to rest of us.

His legacy lives on…

Part 1 - The Limestone Trap: https://trexperiences.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-limestone-trap-death-defying-dad.html

Part 2 - The Road Trap: https://trexperiences.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-road-trap-death-defying-dad-part-2.html

The Road Trap – Death Defying Dad – Part 2 of 3

It was quite characteristic of the generation in India born during mid-20th century to join and retire in the same organization. Job hopping was something unheard of during those times. My dad was not different. As far as I remember, he worked throughout his life in Dhanalakshmi Bank in Kerala. By the time I was in Grade ten in 1995, dad was working in Thiruvalla branch of the bank. It was about ten kilometres from our home at Changanacherry. He used to ride a red Kinetic Honda we had at that time.

Unlike banking these days, every employee used to leave office at 5 PM in the evening. On that uneventful day, on 29 June, as usual dad was on his way back from the bank. His routine was to head to Adens, our shop at Changanacherry, pick up mom and drop her home where I awaited them along with my grandpa. Dad would then have a quick tea and headed back to the shop where he spent time engaging the customers till around 9 PM.

A few meters before reaching Adens, there was a blind curve on the state highway which had to be approached carefully. Being the main state highway, it was a remarkably busy road, sometimes putting the National Highways to shame. Buses and trucks zipped through that road as though there were no speed limits. This curve was so infamous since lot of accidents had happened there and a few precious lives were lost as well.

Dad was neither a rash driver nor a fast one. But as destiny would have its last word, on that day as he was approaching the blind curve there was an ominous white colour Ambassador car trailing him. Dad gave way to the car and was on the edge of the road. Everything happened in the blink of an eye. He only remembered hitting the road and that too to the right side where usually an onslaught of vehicles was expected including high speed buses and trucks carrying death warrants with them. It was his sheer luck and blessing from the above that dad did not have to face any of this oncoming traffic at that moment. I dare not imagine what would have been the case otherwise.

Dad immediately got up and looked at his right hand. What he saw was terrifying to say the least. In place of his palm, he saw a mangled shape of something fully covered in blood. Till today I do not know if it was the absolute state of shock he must have been or his legendary resilience that helped him not lose his consciousness. It was later known that the car driver was drunk, and he hit dad’s bike resulting in the severe injury.

After one whole month of being admitted in Kottayam Medical College hospital, multiple surgeries including skin grafting more than once, days of excruciating pain and mental agony, dad finally made it home one day. While mom got a large bowl of warm salt water to dip his hand, as a part of the treatment, dad removed the bandage on his right hand. It was time for me to be shocked. The hand that held me as a baby and later consoled me multiple times was not there anymore the way it was. He lost two of his fingers and half the palm!

The world got to know about the tragedy. Being a banker by profession, in the pre-computer era, all calculations were manual, and staff entered numbers on ledger books. Most of the people who met my dad after this accident predicted an end to his banking career. Many advised him to think about alternate career options and empathised with him for not able to drive the bike anymore. Dad proved them all wrong. He did not need any of that empathy.

Few months later he was back at his desk in Dhanalakshmi Bank and guess what, he drove to office on the same bike. It had to happen only this way since the calendars were to be replaced 28 more times before a point of no return was to transpire!

Part 1 - The Limestone Trap: https://trexperiences.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-limestone-trap-death-defying-dad.html

Part 3 - The Final Trap: https://trexperiences.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-final-trap-death-defying-dad-part-3.html

The Limestone Trap – Death Defying Dad – Part 1 of 3

Imagine a Kerala in the early 1950s. In one of my aunts’ words, my dad who was all of five years old at that time, was a super busy bee. Not even a minute went by without him finding something naughty to do. That was the time when my grandpa had recently constructed a new house as the family was growing and they needed a bigger place to stay.

During those days it was a common practice to dilute limestone powder in water and create a sort of paint to whitewash the house. Usually a pit, that was five feet long and wide was dug up where the paint was mixed and stored. Though the construction of the house was completed, the pit remained in the backyard, filled with rainwater since there was no cover for it. Apparently, my grandma had asked grandpa to seal the pit which he was planning to get done soon.

One of those days, dad as usual was his busy self and was running around in the backyard. His eldest sister and another cousin sister were watching him from a distance. While the sisters were busy with their own activities’ dad ventured a bit far away and was exploring the length and breadth of the backyard which was one of the ways by which he frittered away time.

After a while, in between their games, dad’s eldest sister realized that she didn’t see the little one for some time. Along with her cousin she started calling out his name, but there was no response. Panic set in. Though it was their own backyard, for a five-year-old little one there were enough and more dangers to be left alone. Not to mention when it was someone as hyperactive as dad.

As the sisters rushed to the backyard looking for their brother, the elder sister heard a tiny splash of water. As there were no other water bodies in the backyard, she dashed to the only place that could hold some form of water from where the sound must have come from. She reached the limestone pit and the scene there was as scary as some of horror movies that were to be made in later years!

Dad was literally covered in water and was in the final stages of struggling for his dear life. His face and body were almost submerged in the water with the hand alone up in the air trying to grab attention of anyone who may pass by.

The sisters acted quickly. They shouted for help at the top of their voice and tried their best to get my dad out of the pit. In his cousin’s own words, he almost died that day.

But God had other plans for him. When He designed and gave life to my dad, he was meant to do greater things in life before he was finally called back. The return journey was not meant to happen unless the calendars were replaced 68 more times!

Part 2 - The Road Trap: https://trexperiences.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-road-trap-death-defying-dad-part-2.html

Part 3 - The Final Trap: https://trexperiences.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-final-trap-death-defying-dad-part-3.html