LOOK UP

By Christine Jayakaran

Most often when I go to my apartment’s gym I watch Netflix on my phone and it lessens the drudgery of the treadmill. (Truly, FRIENDS cures monotony like nothing else!) While this is completely okay, I figured that while I stay glued to the screen I was totally neglecting the lovely view I had before me. So I looked up and this is what I saw. Let me draw a mental picture for you- a wide open field with stunted trees scattered here and there having sweet little birds of different species perched on them. The grass of the field were a thousand shades of green at least and the bramble bushes were lush and wild as expected. The huge expense of land extended for as far as the eye could see with the endless hues of the blazing sun providing a spectacular backdrop. On some days there were a herd of water buffalo who grazed passively on the field with a bunch of birds who hitch a ride and save energy by balancing on their backs rather than flying about. The skies had flocks of birds, bees and butterflies fluttering about in different directions.

All this in just one week of looking up from my screen, switching off my phone and just taking in my surroundings.

It reminded me of an incident around 3 months back when I had an emergency visit to a haematologist to figure out why one of my medicines was not working for me. No one told me that the haematology department was part of the oncology section of a hospital so imagine my shock when I was directed to said section of the hospital. After a harried phone call to my father in law who assured me that there was no mistake but that there was nothing to worry about, I sat down in the waiting room with my husband and was anything but calm. As I waited, I googled who haematologists were (What did we do before google??) and after a bit of useless browsing and quite a bit of finger wringing I looked up.

What I saw made me place my phone back in my bag and zip it shut.

There was a family from an African country who sat before us. The man was bandaged up around his stomach and lay down on the vinyl hospital seats in pain. His family sat beside him looking worried and jet-lagged but they seemed content to be together.

Beside them was an elderly man, his aging wife and middle aged daughter. He was recovering from a treatment so he had lost all his hair and looked weak. His wife and daughter took turns giving him fruit to eat and making sure he sipped fluids. I looked to my left and saw a young man, he couldn’t have been more than 30, he had a catheter fixed to him and he was struggling to walk. His parents were holding his arms and helping him stand upright all the while whispering encouragement to him. I was then called in to see the doctor but the half hour we spent in that waiting room changed my perspective. I only had to get my eyes off myself to see what those around me were dealing with. It was then that I saw the grit of those grappling with suffering, the simple joys during the darkest seasons of the soul, the kind gestures of family towards their loved ones that near resembled the beauty of a brilliant sunset and the different textures of a wild pasture.

I ask you today if you would take time to look up. Would you look up from your clenched hands in your lap? Would you look up from your phone and all your frantic scrolling through social media? Would you look up from your Netflix or Hotstar screen ? Would you lift your eyes from your struggle and look up?