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BLESSINGS OF AN ILLNESS
By : M.R.Sethi
I have often heard
people complain that time hangs heavy on their hands; that they are
not able to pass their time (or ‘life’, since “time is the stuff
that life is made of”). At the same time every one prays for robust
health and a disease-free life. These two things are contrary to
each other. On the one hand, peoplewant to ‘pass’ their life and, on
the other, they want good health which invariably means a longer
life. And longer the life, the greater will the amount of boredom
be. Therefore, it follows that it is an illness, not health that is
required to ‘pass’ time. Firaq Gorakhpuri, an Urdu poet writes:
Rog koi paida kare zindagi ke vaaste,
Sirf sehat ke sahare, zindagi katati nahin
(Create some disease for the sake of life; mere health doesn’t help
pass life.)
An illness not only provides a short-cut to pass life, it also
provides bread (with butter) to a large section of our society – our
doctor brethren. Every time you fall ill, you are helping these
people who live on the miseries of others. Just think: if everyone
on this earth had good help, what would happen the innumerable
doctors and paramedics. They would starve. The closure of factories
producing medical equipment would mean unemployment to millions of
people!
Next, an illness lets you know how generous and sympathetic your
friends and relatives are. You can gauge your popularity among your
friends by counting the number of people who visit or telephone you
enquiring after your health and sending get-well-soon cards. We
Indians, are very sympathetic, at least in this regard. Once you
fall ill, you will find many friends or yours coming to enquire
after your health. By doing so they not try to prove they care for
you, but also pass their own time. Whenever I fall ill (and such
occasions are frequent), so many of my friends come over to ‘see’ me
that sometimes I feel I am Jesus Christ and my ‘well-wishers’ are my
disciples bewailing my crucifixion. But somehow, I always have a
‘resurrection’ and survive my illness (much to the chagrin of my
friends, I guess because then they have to repeat performance at the
time of next illness.
Only last week, I had an attack of mild cold. I found that to be a
good excuse to take leave from the college and escape, though
temporarily, from the business of ‘barking in the class’ But I could
not take rest. My colleagues, friends, students and neighbors
started coming to ‘see’ me. t that time I had taken some medicine
and was groggy and half-asleep. But those well-wishers did not take
me rest. In my semi-conscious state I found my bed surrounded by
many people.
For a moment I thought that I had died and they were messengers of
the Lord of Death come to take me to hell (teaches are not sent to
heaven as heaven-dwellers do not need to be educated) But the most
agonizing part was that I recognized all those messengers of death.
Why, that was Roll No. 385 whom I had got suspended for a week; that
fellow was Mr. Agnihotri whose I had refused to recommend for
scholarship. And that was the publisher whose books I had
recommended to my students. It appeared they had all turned to
death-messengers and had come to take revenge upon me.
The next thought that came to me was that I had turned into a
cockroach like the German salesman in Franz Kafka’s story
Metamorphosis, lying on “back, which was as hard as armor , my great
brown belly was divided by bowed corrugations,” my legs flailing
helplessly before my eyes. And the persons surrounding me appeared
to be ants waiting for the cockroach to die so that they could
devour it.
There is another blessing in illness. It gives you knowledge about
medicines. If you are a regular patient, you can keep a record of
the doctor’s prescriptions, memorize the medicines prescribe, and lo
and behold! you are also a doctor. Just start treating (or
mistreating) anyone who is credulous enough to believe in your
knowledge of medicines.
Illness improves your power of self-express. Many people try to
learn the art of speaking. But each time they open their mouth,
words fail to come out. When you frequently fall ill, you have
frequently describe your malady to those who come to meet you. And
all this will improve your power of expression.
There is another great benefit. It makes your house safe from
burglars. As you fall ill often, it is possible that your malady or
pain keeps you awake or partially awake at night. Well, that makes
you your own watchman. Diseases like bronchitis, asthma, insomnia,
etc. are especially useful for this purpose. Moreover, frequent
falling ill means you never become old – you’ll die young! It is a
simple antidote to old age.
So, being ill is not bad. It has untold blessings.
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