I have never been to a desert. Needless to say, I have never seen an actual oasis. But used to wonder how a traveler, with parched lips and a dead walk, must be feeling to find one, after his longest walk. The ecstasy that must be following after spotting an oasis on the horizon should be remarkable. I am always fascinated by moments like these and stories that involve triumph and excitement, with twists and turns. Little did I know that I was supposed to be a part of one; that I indeed was one of the fortunate travelers to find his oasis; that I indeed am one of the fortunate travelers to experience that ecstatic feeling.
Birthday; a day in our lives when our parents rewind the moment when we were born. A mother joyfully narrates the labor she had gone through, a father flips through those moments of nervousness and uncertainty. Their child, on the other hand has a few stories from the past birthday celebrations. The parties, the venue for a particular year, the phone calls from friends and family, everything, everything, everything is again revisited and celebrated as well. But the most awaited part is the gifts that we get. That feeling of being treated as special… it’s indeed special isn’t it! But of all the people that I know, my son will have an astounding story to tell when he grows older. The story that I am going to tell now defines what we question a billion times; humanity, friendship, emotions. It defines that no matter which creed or nationality you belong to, what truly matters is one single inner connection.
The metaphorical desert that I walked before the actual story happened was in fact a link of life altering episodes. But I don’t wish to hype that in here. To cut a long story short, I was about to lose my job to recession, followed by the good news of my wife’s pregnancy and a new job as well. This was followed by a highly rigorous nerve-wrecking work routine, which led to a bedridden two months. The doctors had in fact written me off for a good six months; eventually I resigned from my job. This was followed by the paranoia of swine flu and its threat to my pregnant wife. We eventually quarantined her to her father’s place, driving 250 miles away from our home. This was in turn followed by another new job. A few months later arrived the birth of my son and immediately followed the shocking sudden demise of my father-in-law. To be precise, the whole 2009 was in fact a roller-coaster ride; at times nauseating, at times phenomenal.
A few months later I arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa; a much awaited and needed impetus to my career. Since day one, I simply loved the place. The city, the home, every event, the workplace, and the people I met; each and every stage set as if beautifully planned just for happiness. But every single day what I longed the most was my son, my ten month old son that I had left behind in India. His smile, his smallest gestures, his cries, his activities, everything was something that was supposed to be missed; and I was indeed missing everything. The least I could do was hear him blabber over the phone; at times meet him on the video. With the recent demise of her father, my wife too was a matter of concern for me. But in all this the biggest relief was my parent’s support. As days passed by, the family started planning my son’s first birthday. Arrangements were being made by the entire family to make it as big as possible and all of a sudden the story started to unfold.
It was the mid of October, and I was probably staring at my son’s picture. Embrenchia (a.k.a. Em, our floor manager) probably saw me from a distance and came at my desk.
“How old is the kid?”
“Going to turn a year, next month”, I replied.
The next day, Desigan asked me in a meeting
“Dude! You are not going to be there for you son’s first birthday? When is it?”
“9th November”, I replied.
“Regarding Sameer…”
Chris caught my glance and hastily minimized his mailbox,
“Dude! What you doing? It’s personal! You are not supposed to look at someone’s email. Stop being nosy!” he sounded quite stern.
What could that email mean? This one question kept pestering my mind for almost the entire day. I tried asking Oliver, but he anyways has been a pain in my ass. Situations like these, he is still at his best!
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| Embrenchia |
“Sam, when’s your son’s birthday you said?”
I was a bit surprised at this out of the blue question “9th November!”, it sounded more like a question than a reply.
She then handed over an envelope to me. As I looked at it, and strangely the first thought that popped up was the mail
“Regarding Sameer…”
I slowly opened it and inside was a folded sheet of paper. I opened that as well…
Have you ever seen the real Santa Claus? I definitely have!
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| Oliver |
Do you believe in miracles? I surely do!
Do you believe that there are relationships beyond reason? I do… oh yeah, I definitely do!
Have you ever gone blank in your mind, when emotions turn into tears and each drop that rolls down your cheek, dazzles and rejoices? I have experienced that!
…cause there, in that envelope was my return ticket to India. As my eyes started to well up, and my heartbeat turned into a bass beat, I turned to the angels sitting in front of me. Before I could try and utter a word, Em replied,
“Your son is not going to celebrate his first birthday without his father, Sam.”
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| Desigan |
“Now you know what ‘Regarding Sameer’ means!”, Chris broadened his grin.
As for me, I was utterly speechless. After all that had happened in the past, these guys never knew how much and what this gesture meant to me and my family. My leave for that week had already been approved by the CTO. All that was left for me to do that day was to laugh while I cry and cry while I laugh. (…well this happened inside the men’s room, so nobody actually knows how I look in that situation). I read and re-read that air-ticket. Ran outside and shared the news with all my near and dear friends. In no time, this news spread in the whole campus; and in India as well. Everyone, but my family, knew what had just happened.
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| Chris |
I still had a couple of weeks before I returned. In the meanwhile I shopped like anything, mostly for my son Aadiraj. A few other lovely friends like Dinesh, Amol, Leonard and Subhashini, too gave awesome gifts for Aadi. That whole dream-come-true was so overwhelming that I could hardly sleep or concentrate on anything. Finally when the day arrived, Dinesh and Amol drove me all the way to the airport. Usually, if I do not call for the whole day, my wife used to call me back. If I didn’t pick up the phone she would call my roommates. So to stop her worries, I gave her a call and told that I would be in a meeting for the whole day; will get in touch with her after an entire day. It takes eight hours to reach Mumbai and another five hours to reach my home in Pune. Have you ever shaken your legs restlessly? Try that for fifteen hours straight and your legs will feel what I felt. I reached Mumbai in the middle of the night and took a cab to Pune. There were other strangers too in that cab, all fast asleep. I could not sleep even for a moment. But then my mind strolled backwards again, to another friend who has been with me through thick and thin; Nitin! When the epidemic of swine flue was at its worst, this guy volunteered to drive me and my pregnant wife, all the way to her maiden town, 400 kms away from Pune.
"You are not going to drive bro. I don't want you take a chance when your mind's running skelter with thoughts. You just sit by her side and I'll do the driving."
That day, even though we lost our way in a jungle and reached my wife's maiden town in the middle of the night, not once did he budge his attention or show any tension on his face. How else does a friend look like and why shouldn't my wife treat Nitin like her brother!
By the time I came out of all those thoughts, morning was already hinting its arrival. As dawn arrived, so did the gates of my colony. It was the beginning of November and the morning air was a quite cold. I sprinted towards our home and a few moments later there I was in front of the gate. But before pressing the doorbell, I parked my entire luggage in front of the door. Then I hid in one of the corners. My dad opened the door expecting the either the milkman or the newspaper boy. But instead he saw a couple of bags with the South African flag on one of them. He looked damn perplexed. At 6 a.m. in the morning, in the middle of deep sleep, if someone just keeps suitcases in front of your door, what else do you expect! I couldn’t control my excitement anymore. When I popped out of the corner, all he did was to hug me tightly and not let me go. He just didn’t want to let me go! Shushing him, I then crept in my mother’s bed. The plan was to scare the hell out of her. But, all she did was to turn to her side and say,
"You are not going to drive bro. I don't want you take a chance when your mind's running skelter with thoughts. You just sit by her side and I'll do the driving."
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| Nitin |
By the time I came out of all those thoughts, morning was already hinting its arrival. As dawn arrived, so did the gates of my colony. It was the beginning of November and the morning air was a quite cold. I sprinted towards our home and a few moments later there I was in front of the gate. But before pressing the doorbell, I parked my entire luggage in front of the door. Then I hid in one of the corners. My dad opened the door expecting the either the milkman or the newspaper boy. But instead he saw a couple of bags with the South African flag on one of them. He looked damn perplexed. At 6 a.m. in the morning, in the middle of deep sleep, if someone just keeps suitcases in front of your door, what else do you expect! I couldn’t control my excitement anymore. When I popped out of the corner, all he did was to hug me tightly and not let me go. He just didn’t want to let me go! Shushing him, I then crept in my mother’s bed. The plan was to scare the hell out of her. But, all she did was to turn to her side and say,
“Please go away dear. I am not coming for a walk today.”
Okay, so this is dad’s way to wake her up. Awkward! I controlled my giggle and said “Maa!”
The woman sprang up in her bed and started sobbing. She actually wept in disbelief and hugged me tightly, and so did my sister. Now, it was my wife’s turn. My mom hurriedly went to our room and knocked on the door. My half-asleep wife opened the door.
“Vrushali, will you please come to the other room. Need to tell you something”, said my mom barely hiding her excitement. But if your mother-in-law wakes you up so early in the morning, all that a woman should expect is panic! My wife was damn worried and with that face she came in the other room. The moment she saw me, she went still with her mouth gaped and eyes wide open.
“Am I dreaming, am I dreaming?” she asked maa, shivering a bit.
“No honey, you are not dreaming!”, I hugged her.
The most awaited attraction was still fast asleep; my son. But I didn’t want to wake him up; just kept staring at my baby for a long time with my wife by my side.
“God! Babies grow so fast; it’s been just two months!”, I was indeed very surprised.
The best part was that my son recognized me when he woke up. He kept smiling, and that people, was the water in my oasis!
9th November arrived and was celebrated with great pomp and celebrations. My wife had done quite some preparation before I arrived, but the moment I did, she tripled the preparation and with more excitement. But all this time, I could not forget the four friends who made this happen. I still remember Em’s words, before I left Johannesburg. Em had said in an email, “Remember! Family is the most important. Everything else can wait!”
And now, today is my son’s second birthday; a year later. Of all the gifts that I will ever be getting for him, this my friends, cannot be topped. I don’t know what other people think about South Africa. But for me this is a place where my second family stays. All that I can say right now is
Danke a million my vriende! Thanks a million!
Jy is my geskenk van God!You are my Gift from God!
