Weekends with Dr. Jagadish Episode 6 : A love story and a planned attack on Hindu Civilizational Legacy

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A love story and a planned attack on Hindu Civilizational Legacy

I saw the mother in the counselling room for the first time. She must have been about 45 years of age then, had a big red bindi on her forehead, her slightly wrinkled face shone bright because of her persistent crying. She hailed from a nearby village which had now become suburban area of the city. She had a big flower shaped ear ring, many gold bangles and a very noticeably thick gold chain in her neck. Those embellishments were heralding that she is from a well to do family. She had a couple of attendants with her, one looked like her but younger; my brain registered the likeness they shared and concluded that they might be siblings, the other looked like their domestic help and she was trying to console the lady, telling her everything will be alright. From her sister I could gather that, they were from a very well-known family with lot of land holdings and the boy in the ICU now, was the only son of her sister. The sister’s husband was a Captain in the army and had been martyred when the boy was about 5 years of age. The lady herself had spent her time in bringing up her only son and in social work, had become in charge of her village temple activities as a trustee of her husband’s property. She was known for her philanthropic work and I too remembered having seen her face in the local newspapers couple of times. It was understandable that most politicians visited her family before elections as people of her village listened to her. She had been very good to them, I remember a villager who came to visit her son later tell me, she was like a god to them arranged eye camps, health camps, brought the erstwhile State Bank of Mysore bank to open a branch in their village by giving them rent free space in her place and at times directly helping the villagers when they needed money for school or college fees etc.

Her son was 23 years old; he was brought to hospital emergency the day before because he had consumed the dreaded Parathion (a close sibling of the tick 20 of seventies). He had been brought to the hospital by his friends. My assistant doctors and the staff had taken care of him and I had seen him on my evening rounds.

Analepsis: The son, let me call him “M”, had met a girl in an accident he was involved 3 years ago when he was in his 2^nd year of his engineering. His bike had collided with a girl on bicycle and he had taken her to a nearby hospital and got her the necessary treatment. Later he told me, he was scared about police case at that time and had told her he would pay for her treatment and cycle repair and gave her his contact details.

She was there waiting for him after 3 days of the said accident, in front of his college. He went and spoke to her, she handed over a slip for the cycle repair charges and he gave her the money; but like all boys of his age where hormones dictate the behaviour, he asked her out for a cup of coffee. The girl had a very Hindu sounding name, let me call her “D”. Soon M and D started meeting regularly post his college hours; she would be waiting for him in front of his college campus. She was supposed to be a student of PUC 2^nd year in a nearby college, as per information given by her to him. The boy liked her as she was attentive towards him unlike other girls he knew; she spoke good English and was always well dressed.

It did not take long before it became more than “like” and they started moving around together. He confessed to me later that he did not have inkling that it would become such a mess. They went to temples and nearby places together. He conceded that sometimes they did indulge in intimacy like any carefree young lovers with raging hormones would. He had decided that, she was the one for him and like a good son, informed his mother.

The Problem: The girl was from a Christian family which his mother knew and upon invitation, her father turned up at their home with 2 pastors. You see, the lady had held the villagers together and being a staunch Hindu had not allowed villagers to sell a particular piece of land for these pastors where they wanted to construct a church. They had 2 conditions for the lady:

• The son has to convert to Christianity
• The land where the church was to be built must be sold to them

The incensed lady sent them back. She told me that a few angry villagers wanted to beat them up but she ensured they were sent back safely. She told the son what had transpired and advised him to forget the girl. He listened to his mother and agreed. That evening he informed her that he will go meet his friends to feel better and left home. His friends found him a day later in a hostel room in the above condition.

When I saw him he was stinking of OP compound, twitching all over and had pin point pupils. I guessed he had consumed a quantity large enough to kill 5 people. Sero-chemistry showed a bad picture and I could tell by experience that he will require long time ICU care, if he does survive. Here was a young man 23 years of age, very strong and robust looking, put down by his own foolishness and stupidity.

On second day, his respiration failed him and he had to be put on ventilator. He was put on our regular protocols for care of OP poisoning. On 6^th day, he started showing signs of recovery and was taken off ventilator support but this was false hope. On 8^th day, he developed what we call “Intermediate syndrome” and was back on ventilator. We did a tracheostomy the next day as it was perceived that he will require ventilator support for more than a few days. He was on ventilator for 17 days and then he slowly recovered and was taken off. He looked better and was able to feed himself, so I moved him to our stepdown ICU for further care.

On 3rd day in stepdown ICU, I noticed he walked with high gait when he went to the bathroom. I put him to a thorough check under a neurologist. He had developed the dreaded Ginger Jake Paralysis or OP compound Induced Delayed Neuropathy. In a month, he had reduced from 75 kgs to 53 kgs and on top of it had a foot drop. Luckily, his hands were spared although he complained of weakness.

He was discharged exactly 53 days after his admission; he went back as a pale limping man. I saw him a couple of times later, along with his mother. He had partially recovered from his foot drop, his gait was better but he could not still point his toes upwards. He looked robust and strong having gained back all his lost weight. He told me that they had refused the alliance and that the stay in ICU had made him introspect on his life, his mother and the girl. He told he will marry anyone who his mother chooses.

This case happened in late 2009; it made me introspect on “my own giving back to my roots thoughts and philosophy” and about the circumstances in which the above case happened. They were not ordinary. It is then that I started my research on the assault on Hinduism, its culture and traditions. I was amazed at how naïve I had been on thinking that everything is fine in our country when the core Hindu civilizational legacy was being actively eroded away at its roots, attacked and assaulted in various forms. Coming from a very orthodox Hindu family it did not take me long in deciding to work for saving Hindu Civilizational legacy at every opportunity and in my free time. It has become my passion now along with my zest for patient care and medical technology.

PS: The pastors did build the church but at a different place nearby, M is today married and has 2 kids himself. His mother “the lady” has withdrawn from social service and is happy looking after her immediate family. They have resigned from the temple trust and other strong villagers whom the lady had groomed have taken over. Yes; the domestic help was right. “Everything turned out alright but it was too close to a tragedy!!”

 

Author :  Dr Jagadish J Hiremut is a superspecialist medical doctor based out of Bangalore, a medical author, blogger, medical technology expert and is a proponent of Value Based Ethical Medical practice. 

 follow him on twitter @Kaalateetham or mail to [email protected]