Walking the inner path!

I set out one morning recently for a walk carrying the camera, not knowing, which path I would take on that day! What I spotted was a garden on one side of the road. I walked towards that direction and the first three photos are of collections from that roadside garden. 

It was while I was taking the photos of flowers, I remembered Dr Jacob Chacko, a paediatric surgeon working at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, handing over to me a pot of lawn grass in 1997, when I had come to begin the Developmental Paediatrics Unit in partnership with ASHIRVAD at CMC Hospital. That was 25 years ago. I planted that pot of lawn grass all around the house, where the Developmental Paediatrics Unit was located, which became a large lawn in the hospital campus. It was from this lawn, the grass was gathered from to create another 20 or so grass patches in the hospital during the subsequent years. 

That gesture of Dr Jacob Chacko to gift a pot of lawn grass became a metaphor of some significance during the 11 years, when  I worked at CMC Vellore. He gave the grass that he had gathered from his lawn, when the house he was living, needed to be demolished to build a Nursing hostel. As he moved to a flat, he had no space to create a lawn. He preserved the remnant of his lawn in a pot, until he could find a good use for it. 

On one morning, around 8 am, while I was in the front yard of the house where Developmental Paediatrics Unit was located, to water the potted plants before work began, Dr Chacko stopped to greet me and say, 'I have noticed that you are interested in making a garden. Let me give you the lawn grass I had kept at home'! That is how I went to his home and received the grass that evening. 

Dr Mary Antony who was in training in Paediatrics during my time at Vellore,  later moved to work at Kolkata.  She recently went to CMC Vellore to attend a conference organised by the the Developmental Paediatrics Unit. She sent me message, recalling those early days and commenting on the leadership position that the Developmental Paediatrics Unit at CMC emerged in the national scene, during the last 25 years. 

The grass multiplied to make several green patches in the CMC campus, including in the college campus. This Unit over these years trained Paediatricians in the specialty of Developmental Paediatrics, who are in different places in India, reaching out to children with neurodevelopment challenges. 

It was while at this inner journey path, I noticed a restricted entry to a large campus. Only pedestrians could access that path through this entry. 

That  sight reminded me of the opportunity that was offered to me, to be in a position of leadership in an international organisation, while I was half way through my time at CMC Vellore.  I was asked to go for an interview to London with the offer of travel and hospitality. Although for a few days, I entertained that as a possibility, Anna and I discovered that it was not the direction that we were to take. 

I stood at this spot below, thinking of that decision to stay away from that path in life and felt grateful for the inner voice that prompted us to pursue developing the speciality of Developmental Paediatrics in India by being at CMC Vellore. 

Later in the walk, I came to a road which was not visible beyond the bend. Seeing a car passing by on that road assured me that the road had a destination! 

It was while stopping at this spot, the memory of a good friend who used to visit us at Vellore came back to me. He visited us just before he was to go overseas to work. During that conversation, what came upon me was to wish him and his family: 'A journey into the highways of life to find their purpose and direction in life'. About 18 years later, I realise that this family has been able to live their vocation. They found suitable educational environment for their children. They as professionals made significant contributions. They live purposefully mindful of others in need. Their on going connections with people where they used to work earlier, has been an endearing experience for their former colleagues. During the contacts with the family for years before and since their relocation, they gave me an insight of how relocation is the way beyond in some situations. There are times when relocation is needed to redeem life and pursue the larger vocation!

Standing on the roadside with  no visibility beyond the curve, I have had  a refreshing recollection time about instances in our family life. There were times when the path ahead could not be pursued beyond some steps. After I retired from CMC Vellore in 2008, I  meandered for three years, not knowing the path ahead. It was Anna,  who felt that it was good for us to be back in our parent's home, to live as my mother needed care and support with her advancing age. It was while we were here, we sensed an opportunity at MOSC Medical College, to begin a service for neuro-developmentlly challenged children. During the last eleven years that became a path finder for me to have an in-depth perception of disturbed family life, many parents are forced to go through, while attending to the Neuro-developmental needs of their children. 

The photo below of a long path, leading to something beyond which was visible only faintly was another reflection time during this walk. The walk looked promising as the path indicated the direction towards a valley and peek of a mountain. 

The sight of the valley and the peek at the end of the road, as seen in the picture below, became a symbol of some refreshing recollections. 

One recollection was about the season of the last 11 years at my work place. All the developments of the department of Developmental Paediatrics were first time experiences for the institution. It was the first time a tangible effort to develop a support system for developmentally challenged children led to useful services for children and families. It was a peek and valley experience. The peek experiences involved creating different services which brought comfort for children and parents and seemed to change the developmental profile of some children. 

While some good and worthwhile events were taking place, there were also events taking to valley experiences in the recent years, which made work difficult and stressful. I am nearing the end of my time in the work place, feeling grateful and celebrant about the opportunity of the last 11 years, to find a path that I had not envisioned. From being at a position, when the path ahead was hardly visible, the memories of the long and straight path of the last 11 years symbolised in  the photo above, refreshed immensely.  

At  the end of the long walk from where I could have a breathtaking view of the peek and valley as shown in the photo above, I had some more surprises awaiting me on thread side. 

Those surprises were the flowers below on both sides of the road that led to the valley. 

 

Each of the flowers reminded me stories of pleasant experiences of the last 11 years. Let me  narrate one of the stories . That was symbolised by the floor in the last photo. 

The partially open peach rose flower with an adjoining bud in the background, brought back many memories. During the years at the ASHIRVAD Child Development Centre, Chennai and later at the Developmental Paediatrics at CMC Vellore, Sekar, the support staff used to bring me peach and white rose flowers for the vase in the consultation room.  Sekar did it gladly and faithfully. The flowers began to be integral to developing a perspective on child development. 

The flowers are fresh, fragrant and fragile. 

The three applications that evolved out of proximity to flowers were: To make child development service refreshing; to bring an aroma of goodness and care into the lives of families; to serve children knowing that the developmental needs make children fragile cognitively, behaviourally and socially. 

So coming to view these flowers at the end of that walk, each of them with accompanying buds, reminded me of the prospects children carry with them in their developmental journey! 

Standing there, watching each of these flowers, I felt moved that Anna and I were given an opportunity to pursue this path in our professional journey to be with children, during the last forty years. 

We did not choose to walk this professional path. It was through the arrival and departure of Anita, our daughter, Anna and I were awakened to follow the voice within to find our vocation by being in the company of developmentally challenged children. 

A walk that started as an activity for exercise and sight seeing, ended in an inner journey spread over forty years!

Walk along the inner path regularly. That is what echoes within me now! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)