Chinna Katha 'Live' 1

A true life story of how the last wish of a

young Cancer Patient was fulfilled

Chinna Katha ‘Live’ 1 Aug 08

Poor Cancer Patient Saurab airlifted with family

Saurab Das Gupta was all 25 yrs ,young and smart looking.

But a case of one, running out of luck due to strange

algorithm of destiny that gives no reason before striking.

Its not about the luck for making it big,

but the luck- plain vanilla type.

Luck to be around,alive like other mortals.

But it was not tobe for Saurab.

Saurab is the son of Sudhir Das Gupta, a smalltime vendor

selling foodstuff to the passers by,

whose 'workstation' was straight on the footpath

near his village Mirzapur ,West Bengal.

As the only son,Saurab

had one duty cut out for him.

To take over and relieve his

old father and give him a peaceful retirement.

All that the father could do, earning a meagre 3k pm,

was to get his only daughter married and

look upto growing Saurab for the rest.

But destiny had other plans.

That was discovered precisely on 23.08.2005.

When the medical report of Saurab

mentioned "Colon Cancer".

The family was shattered.

All the Gods in their domain were invoked.

After a devastating battle of 5 yrs

and many thousands, begged and borrowed,

down the drain, the family of threesome-

the doting mother unwilling to give up on the son,

the defeated dad and

a composed son

arrived in Mumbai Sarvodaya,

on 21.01.2008 to try their last

dose of luck with Tata Memorial.

Post another 45k down, the family

became broke and was pinned down squarely by fate.

It was then the team of ChemburSeva

took over and mobilised monthly ration

and reinstated the makeshift kitchen under their cot.

And also mobilised some funds

for next chemo if that could help.

The family participated in the morning

'Dhyan' before the Altar of Swami and prayed.

On 14 Aug 08, the inevitable happened.

The hospital expressed

helplessness and wrote off Saurab.

"Doctor Jawaab de diya"- in the lingo here in 'Cancer corridor'.

Acc to the docs, he reached a point of no return.

The end can come any time.

Strangely Saurab was deceptively agile,sitting erect

and talking normally albeit intermittent shoots of pain.

He was composed as he was explaining his fate to us.

All that he wanted was to have a peaceful end in his

village with his folks around.

Hectic discussions saw the whole of

Aug 15 slipping away.

The time was running out

both in his body clock and the one outside.

Atlast the family decided to take him by train

in 'unreserved' as that was the only option with them.

But that posed a great danger of any unfortunate

event happening in between and getting stranded.

The journey to Calcutta by train was really long.

ChemburSeva team felt helpless looking at this prospect

of Saurab not getting his last wish fulfilled.

The only option was "Air lift" all the three,

as leaving any one of them for train could make matters worse.

Without the mother , the son wouldnt want to go.

without the father, the mother couldn't manage by Air.

Hence it was decided that all the three

should be airborne in quickest possible time at any cost.

The family was asked to pack up ASAP

and get ready to hop and go

to catch the 5.30 pm flight.(i.e on 16.8.08)

All the Sarvodaya patients,who hail from different parts of

India, assembled near Swami's Altar around 3 pm.

To bid good bye to their dear Saurab

who was always calm and composed .

Not fearing to face the end.

For the first time we saw in those

three weeks we interacted,

Saurab, who never cried even on knowing his fate,

broke down before Swami's Altar.

Not for the end he was confronting,

as it was already known to him.

But looking at the other Patient Bandhuon

who empathised with his pain,day and night. And consoled.

Many cheeks flashed with quick rush of tears.

And we too succumbed.

The mother had to put up a bold front and move out fast,

so that we dont miss the flight.(see photo below)

Tearful Saurab and Ma leaving Sarvodaya

As luck would have it, the rain and traffic

played spoil sport loading all odds

against our Saurab .

And as feared, the flight was missed!

And to add to the misery ,

another flight to Cal was cancelled.!!

Now we couldnt report this to

the family as they would break down.

Frantic calls -Sairam... Sairam-to Swami for help.

By His divine grace we were told

that there was an Indian Flight at 6.30 to Cal.

in the other terminal up there,

for which also it was very late.

With slow moving Saurab,

no way he could be rushed to

the other terminal so fast.

Suddenly like clockwork, two ricks arrived

from no where to pick Saurab and others

and left in the other terminal.

An unknown security pitched in

to help Saurab with a wheel chair,

We were dazed watching the 'Autopilot' mode .

Seemed "Big Boss" took over.

Unknown security person pitches in to help

Saurab at Airport .

And the threesome left

Mumbai hurriedly saying"Sairam"

with tearful eyes.

We advised Saurab to keep

his favourite chanting "Soiram"(Bengali accent)

and He was sure to be blessed.

We kept our fingers crossed.

With prayers on.

Past midnight we got a

phone call confirming

Saurab reached his village

and joined his folks waiting

for him late in the night .

And our Seva cycle was complete!

Thus the last wish of a poor Indian soul

got fulfilled by His divine grace.

And we were assigned a small role

in His grand design.

If blessed, Saurab could live long

despite whatever medical report may say.

And we are awaiting one such rare blessing..

Can the city which sends thousands of

trivial messages of valentine day, friendship day

and friends' fathers day( ! ) etc.

afford to send a few

"Get well soon" messages to a few

Saurabs of India to boost their morale?

May be the media wont promote .

As they (not the readers) may not get the 'high'

But we can proactively send..

Sairam

ChemburSeva

Subsequent to this mail, Saurab reached his village and the entire village joined prayers everyday keeping Baba's photograph and they kept calling us to tell what was going on though Saurab was slowly sinking but without pain. On Krishna Janmashtami day merged with Swami peacefully.