Have you ever broken a bone?
One morning a few years ago, I carefully took my motor bike down the slanting ramp, without starting it and once down I pushed the self-start button for the bike to start but it wouldn’t. I made a few more failed attempts before giving up. My car had barely any petrol left and I was close to an empty bank account due to some heavy unwise expenditures.
Hence, I pushed the bike back in, and started walking to the bus stand. The gardens along the houses on the way were always a gift for the mind and heart and they gave just the perfect start to the morning.
Although each garden was unique in its own way and I would have loved to say I liked them all the same, but I would be lying if I said that I did not have a little inclination towards Mr Debnath’s garden.
Dust is a problem here, and layers of it can be seen on the plants around. But, the plants in Mr Debnath’s garden were watered and washed off early in the morning, so when one passed by the garden, the Sun shone through the garden very differently with all the distinctly visible green.
As I passed by, I looked up at the balcony, where Mr Debnath would often be sitting with a cup of tea and newspaper, but he wasn’t there for the third day now. I thought maybe he had gone on vacation, then I saw Mrs Debnath returning from her morning walk, so I asked her about him.
“He broke his leg,” said Mrs Debnath
“Again?” I asked in surprised
“Yes, again,” said Mrs Debnath, “…and at the same place”
“What was it this time?” I asked
“The same, he got disbalanced and fell down along with his scooter. He said he missed the speed breaker and thus didn’t reduce speed.”
Mr Debnath had broken his leg at the same place at least four times and he was on his scooter each tiume, the last time as Mr Debnath was returning home from the market with a bag of fruits, a Gray langur jumped on him and caused his fall.
I have never had a broken bone. Maybe I have experienced pain close to it, but no broken bones yet. I have tried to imagine what the pain might be like or the challenges that arose due to immobility, but I know the experience of it might be something entirely different.
During my school days I used to play a lot of football and there was always this need to exceed the physical capabilities, run faster than others, jump higher than others, dribble better and in those attempts, there were obvious falls.
Now that I think about it, I have fallen quite a lot in my life. Just last year in a sports store I came across the skateboard section, I was with my colleague and I thought of showing off my skateboarding skills which I once had and for some reason thought I still had. The fall was instant but I got up very quickly trying to pretend it was part of the experience, but I fell on my knee badly and there were a few days of pain afterwards but nothing serious.
The worst fall was definitely, a few years back, it had just rained heavily and I was out to get food. One of my favourite places to eat is in a basement area where one has to get down using the stairs which were open to the outside world thus obviously wet by rain. I just cannot remember the number of times I fell down while going down the stairs. The incident tested me both physically and also mentally and also luckily no one else was around for me to feel embarrassed about.
The one time I thought my leg was done for sure, was when I had to get to a friend’s house and I decided to run my way there for the sake of fitness so I ran and there was a rock in between and I decided to jump over it and I did. It was fun, I was glad I still had it in me and the moment I landed on my right leg, I felt a jolt of pain. I had landed on an iron water supply pipe, with my heel taking the brunt of it. I had carried that pain for quite a while, but I was fine after that.
I have stopped making any unnecessary movements at this age of my life which may lead to a fall or worse a serious injury. As age proceeds you realise how much you need that good health to put those highly productive years into achieving dreams and fulfilling wishes.
Written by Anuran Chatterji
Early Morning Memories 