Its Friday of week four and we have come home again. When we started from Rochester it was cloudy, windy, snowing and frigid 21*F. We entered Nebraska under sunny skies and 56*F. This must be the good life state. This picture was taken in the setting rays of the sun, soon after we arrived. The first thing I noticed in the house was how big our kitchen looked compared to the kitchen in the hotel. I wanted to start cooking right away but it was friday and Mahapatra family's movie night. Jyoti, Sachi and I saw 'Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day' and Suraj and Ravi saw 'Drillbit Taylor'. Both of these were at The Grand so technically we were together. Jeff was busy watching the basketball games with friends in Omaha and will be coming tomorrow. We ate dinner at Amigos and then I went grocery shopping (fridge was empty); the kids and Sachi watched Conan O'Brian.
The drive home seems to be getting shorter and easier. Sachi slept through most of it. When he did wake up it was to lodge a complaint against me for not letting him drive. He has lost about 18 lbs. and is getting tired easily; his spirit remains strong though and he finds strength to join us in most activities. His blood tests are still coming out good and the Dr. is impressed with him. When I came back from India and saw him waiting for me at the airport he looked thinner and younger than when I left him. By now he is mainly on liquid diet. He likes half boiled eggs without salt so they don't burn his mouth. He takes Boost and other supplements when we have our meals. Medicines for pain and nausea are working fairly well. We are gratefull that his symptoms are bearable till now. I admire his quiet acceptance of cancer and every thing it has brought on him and love him more than ever before.
My trip to India was short and sad. I saw more tears in my family's eyes than ever before. At the funeral my brother's two sons tied the ceremonial white turban symbolising the shift of family responsibility on their heads now. This is an old sikh tradition and looked tragic and beautiful on my young nephews. My sister-in-law (their mother) sitting next to them will be taking care of the family for a long time until the kids become independant. No turban for her but I know she will shoulder the responsibility well. My brother Kuku will be missed. Now it is just my sister and me. Bablee is there and will feel the brunt of loneliness. My mother and father are inconsolable and second guessing as to what else they could have done to avoid this tragedy. I am thankful to all the family that gathered from far and near to share their burden. Thanks to all of you too for wishing us well.
Sachi and I will head back to Rochester on Sunday. Jyoti, Jeff, Suraj and Ravi will celebrate Easter with Jeff's family. Thank you Norma and Jim. Today is Holi (the festival of colors). In Lincoln we celebrate it in July.
Happy Holi and Easter to everyone...........Ambi.
4 comments:
Hello Sati, I was very happy to talk to you the other day - you sounded absolutely normal. Your candid exposure about your health condition displayed your strong positive attitude and optimism in life. This decision of yours made easy for all your near and dear ones to accept the truth with hope.
i was always aware of your strong belief in the sunny side of life and lived a life with a spiritual glow and path of idealism and service. All of us have a lot of love for you and pray for your well being. I salute Ambi for her love and exemplary support for you and the whole family.
You will be happy to know that on 15th March the "Biju Pattnaik University Of Technology
", Orissa, awarded the 1st Arjun Bhuyan Gold medal to the best BE in the university among all the branches, in honour of the 1st Oriya Engineer (1903). With love and blessings, Sangram Mamu
Bathed in the golden glow of the retiring sun, each branch of the tree looks radiant with hope, though betraying a touch of fatigue. And Nuabou, your deliberate attempt at hiding behind the lens as usual, while capturing a moving moment on film, does little to separate you from the team! For, how can the picture be complete without the photographer?....How can the children be happy and fulfilled without the mother?...... How can the head of the family undertake any journey, trivial or significant, without drawing strength from his best friend in life?....
The poignant grief of recent events weighs heavily on every word of your latest post. Reflecting on the string of mishaps in the family, I find my eyes becoming moist with emotion and my heart heavy with sorrow. Your unrelenting grit in swallowing the bitter pills, one after the other, and yet finding the reason and resilience to forge ahead, indeed, illustrates a rare streak of perseverance in your character…..but if someone looks deep enough, they will find the wounded human heart bleeding inside, far from the eyes of the prying public….And it is for healing that wound and filling the scar that I pray to God…to spread out a soft sheet of velvet and apply His emollient balm of peace that would drive away the dark patches and bring back the happy times of sunshine and cheer.
Like the frightening fury of a receding tempest gives way to calm and quietude, your days of suffering are nearing completion of their allotted quota, and in the hazy distance you can see the clouds dispersing and the brilliance of color returning, you can smell the fragrance of parched earth as the first drops of rain wash away its thirsty cracks…..
God bless you all…
Pranams and prayers.
Babi
What better message of renewal is there than the messages you share on your blog. Sally and I thank you for your honest words of gratitude for the blessings we receive but sometimes fail to appreciate.
Bob Stoddard
Dearest Ambi Main,
Pranam! A quick note to thank you for the beautiful picture of Sati Mamu and the kids taken in the setting rays of the sun..it would have been complete and just perfect had you and Jeff been in the picture too..as Babi Mamu has rightly expressed bathed in the golden glow of the retiring sun all of them look radiant with hope..with Sati Mamu and Ravi in bright sunny yellow sweaters looking really radiant and extremely handsome..I agree with you that Sati Mamu sure does look much more younger and handsome having become thinner..We both eagerly wait for your weekend photographs with the kids every time you visit Lincoln or they visit Rochester as you all look so happy and good together..I am sure we will have many more such beautiful pictures to admire and cherish once you are back home in Lincoln after the end of the balance two weeks of treatment.
Our thoughts and prayers are with both of you.Hope these balance two weeks of the treatment go by uneventfully.
Love always,
Leema & Achintya.
Post a Comment