Your prayers and wishes are the healing balm on my troubled body. Your prayers and individual sacrifices you make for my well being truly demonstrates your feelings as a member of my family. I struggle with words and expressions to put out to express what I do sincerely believe in. But they come with great difficulty. How does one find something more than just a ‘thank you’. The two words are so limited, yet so precise.

And so I say a thank you again ….

The morning has been nightmarish. There has been incredible pain in the region of the surgery, and the spasms so acute that they brought me to the level of a scream … which is saying a lot, for, my resistance to pain has been quite satisfactory in the past. But the doctors were immediately summoned and after change in the dressings and pain killers, there seems to be now some semblance of relief. Not entirely, but entire enough.

So enough of me and my condition … too self centered !!

The day nurses have been most considerate and kind, looking after every little requirement with great concern and professionalism. They are Christians from Kerala and have the most lovable accent, as do all Malayali’s ( Malayalam being the language of Kerala ) when they speak another language. We talk of one of the most powerful Churches in the region, the Velankanni Virgin Mary church, a place where I had gone to pray soon after I recovered from my 1982 accident. A white large structure with an immense quadrangle around it to accomodate the devotees. A church renowned for its power of healing and for many Christians the Lourdes of the East. A place of peace and tranquility, prayer and devotion, and belief …

Does this happen to all or just me – talking of religiosity when thrust upon a hospital bed. I find it coming inadvertently, without the asking and I wonder whether we are being too selfish in remembering the Creator only in times of trouble. I see athletes do similar before the start of their routine – a football match, the start of a race, a batsmen on the cricket pitch after he has scored a century and many others. Divine or providential assistance before an important task, or the beginning of a new venture – factories, a retail store, the first day on entering your home and on … seeking blessings for all to go well. And I wonder do the slum dwellers that live in the most decrepit and lesser means of shanty towns, go the same way. For them their make shift ‘kholi’ is their castle, their home, their abode, their roof, strengthened by plastic covers to prevent the rains from coming in, held in place by heavy pieces of rock so they do not fly away on heavy winds. Which hospital do they visit when they fall ill .. do they get the retinue of doctors and nurses as others do, the services of efficient medical facility, of thorough investigation and tests … and …

Do they get the same ailments … ?

Amitabh Bachchan