Anupam- The Dreamer

Can you imagine in your wildest of dreams that if after one fine night you don’t wake up to see the upcoming day, how life would be like for your loved ones? And if that misfortune happens in reality, without any prior intimation, due to any reason, how will the world around you change in a single moment? Even imagining that seems very difficult, but if you happen to witness such events around you in reality, then it is nothing short of devastating, to say the least.

Yesterday, my parents told me about the tragic death of a young man, a son of a family friend. He woke up in the middle of the night at around 3:30 a.m. for going to the washroom. When he came back to bed, he complained of chest pain to his wife and in the very next moment he collapsed instantly on the floor. His wife shouted for help and immediately the parents and brother rushed to help. My first reaction, on hearing that was that whether he received Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) in time, to which I was told that within a minute, he was administered CPR and even mouth-to-mouth breaths, but to no avail. His body did not respond to any of the revival attempts, and within a few minutes his body became very cold. Their worst fears became true, but it happened so sudden that they couldn’t process anything. They immediately rushed him to the hospital in the middle of the night, where he was pronounced dead. They hurriedly put an ECG on him and the line showed blank. He expired within a few seconds because of the cardiac arrest! Within a span of few minutes, their world was devastated. The depth and intensity of the pain, helplessness and tears of the family members cannot be imagined by the sudden loss of their loved one.

How can God be so brutal? How can such a tragedy unfold on a young guy, who was otherwise hale and hearty? What happened at the moment which made him collapse? Why couldn’t he respond to the CPR? What it means to see a loved one die in your own hands? Noone had any answer to any of the question. It was like the chord of life was snapped instantly by the God! And suddenly, everything comes to standstill for the family members- their dreams, their ambitions, their happiness, their support, their anything and everything! 

Similar sequence of events I have heard happened to one other young man, an acquaintance, a few years ago. He also collapsed suddenly when he woke up in the morning. Instant death, with no chance of taking to hospital or giving any sort of aid. And the most tragic part is that, this came with no earlier waning of any sort, with no history of any disease or pain in the chest! It feels like sometimes there is nothing we can do to prevent the tragic events! In the after-thoughts, we could just imagine that could he have done something in some other way to prevent this sudden end?

Sometimes it feels like it’s all decided! We cannot fathom the mystery of life and death and what happens to us. The mortal human seems so miniscule in the larger scheme of God. And although we know what is the end eventually, but when that happens all of a sudden, we cannot comprehend what is happening around us. Only those who have gone through such moments around their near and dear ones, will be able to better relate to such things.

Suddenly, everything seems to come to halt in life. But the lesson that we can take from such tragic events is to try and make our lives as beautiful and happy till the moment we are alive. We cannot predict the future, but this reminder of ephemeral mortality can help us keep grounded in the present moment. It can help us cut the clutter and focus on important things in life. 

Let me leave you with a thought worth pondering, introspecting and contemplating. Stop reading now if you have a weak heart!

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What if you imagine yourself to be in the position of the above mentioned young men and asked to write your obituary today? And would you be happy writing about the sum total of all you did in your life till now? And…..