Threads

A few weeks ago we stood at the edge of an abyss. 

Dark and deep, it threatened to pull us down.

Our fear was absolute, our desperation complete.
The sense of being alone threatened to swallow us whole.

Then, from somewhere came a thread; winding it's way over the skies and roads.
Caring not for covid barriers or border closures.
It reached out and wrapped itself around us, saving us from tumbling into the darkness.
Then came another and another and another.
Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow.
Saket, GK, Panchsheel.
UP and Haryana. Punjab and Kerela. The US, UK and Canada.
More colonies than I can name, more cities than I can count, more countries than I can remember.
The threads just kept coming.

Each one a bond, tying us to them.
Wrapping themselves around our minds and hearts.
Wrapping themselves around Aarav to keep him with us.
Threads of hope, of prayers, of love.
Threads of Faith, of Family and Friends.
Defying the lockdown, proving that they needed no pass to reach us.

Forming a cocoon where we believe with certainty that life as we knew it shall return.
Pulsating, alive, full of love, pushing us to keep going everytime the night seems endless.

The darkness doesn't seem quite so absolute now
The tunnel seems to have an eventual end
The road ahead looks long and tough
But the threads are unwavering in their belief
That we shall overcome and not be overcome
That we shall look back on these days as a bad memory soon
That we shall emerge stronger and better.

A mother's warm embrace, a father's loving hug, a grandmother's gentle touch, a sister's cosy cuddle.
They are all these and so much more.
A collection of a lifetime of bonds, coming to hold us together when we needed them the most...


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Choose to Be...

I have had several people ask me recently why I have stopped writing my blog posts. While I make the usual excuses of lack of time, the truth is, I am no longer sure what to say. My blogging journey started six years ago, sitting by Aarav’s hospital bed. Even then, I believed that everything that began must have an end, and my blogs, too, would end with the grand finale of Aarav’s recovery. Six years later, I know better. While we have come a long, long way from where we started, the road ahead seems equally stretched out and indistinct. When Aarav’s physiotherapist tells me that there are some things beyond the scope of medicine, I find myself wondering- what if we have used up our share of miracles in bringing him to this point? What if this is it? The what-ifs are plenty, far more than the answers. And then, I tell myself that there is so much to be thankful for. I just need to choose what to be. Aarav is a delight. Bringing him up is a journey I wouldn’t trade for anything. H...
Read more

The 3am Friends

  Like almost everything else in our society, the concept of friendship is something which is expected to fit into neat little columns. So, we have childhood friends; the ones we have known forever, the ones who have seen us grow and who have grown with us. Then we have our “official” friends; people whom we started out as knowing as colleagues and who eventually became more. Then come our family friends; people whom we start out with on a formal note but come to accept and admire as our own. As we head into our 40’s we have our mid-life friends; the ones who get to know us after a major portion of our lives is over but who, all the same, have our back. And then of course, there are “mom friends”; people whom we get to know through our kids and who continue to be a part of our lives, even when the kids don’t really recognize each other at all!!! But very seldom, as adults, do we talk about our 3am friends. Now, as someone in their 40s you will probably understand that 3...
Read more

Our Sunshine Baby

There is something mesmerizing about the continuous beep of the monitors. They are in my head so much that when I step out, I can still hear them. Heartbeat, pulse, oxygen levels, IV fluids, ventilator on standby- isn’t it surprising how quickly we get used to using this medical terminology? So what if we had never thought of being in such a situation or having never heard of the term GBS, which changed the setting of our lives from normal to nightmare within seconds. It had started out as any other day. Day XX of the lockdown. Same routine, same house, same kids. Looking back its hard to pinpoint when exactly things started spiralling out of control. Was it when Aarav first complained of what we thought was tummy pain? Or was it during the first or the second dash to Emergency? Was it the first time I discovered he was being unable to stand? Or was it finally at that dread moment when the doctors told me that he needed to be shifted immediately to the ICU because his condition was ser...
Read more