His Kidney Failed When He Won

Those who live bold never grow old

There is a breed of humans who are not gentle and tender, who will not laugh when happy and never admit their mistakes. They, too, have brains, but this brain has fabricated their naive mind into a much sophisticated and complicated one. It's undoubtedly tough to convince the members of this breed about the truth, or at times, get them to accept their wrongdoings.

I recollect that day among several other insignificant ones from my past, when I encountered a man in my clinic, who, apparently, turned out to be of this breed. He seemed like in early sixties. He had brought his frail and aging mother for the analgesic injections for her chronic knee pain. After the injection was given, he relaxed in the chair and attempted to pull me into a conversation on his pre-retirement life. He said he once held the administrator's post at the city municipality office from 1990 to 2001. He worked there for a cause. He calls himself the messiah who resurrected a failing agricultural revenue in Shimoga by bringing in reforms and ensuring stricter enforcement of state laws. His story was building up some inspiration, till the year 2000 when he could sense the first winds of the fall of agricultural produce after government launched its land acquisition move to usher in urbanization. Foreseeing the bleak picture of tomorrows in the role of a leader fighting for the weak cause of arecanut farmers, he stepped down from the enchanted pedestals of small-town politics. He knew he could no longer bring strategies more stronger than what the government had in plans for upliftment of the farmers' lives. He realized that Shimoga was entering the era where trendy watches, phones, shoes and cars made a man richer than his neighbor who owned two acres of arecanut plantations. He said that by the year 2002, his elder son who had done the much-coveted MBA, was hired by Pidilite, a famous industrial chemicals brand, and his younger son, who was just out of engineering college, got placed at Siemens, a multinational company working in information technology innovations. He knew he no longer had to work for a living.

"It was 7th May, 2002. The day I underwent kidney transplantation at Manipal, after my blood pressure went out of control. And on 7th April 2003, I signed my resigning letter at the municipality," he continued. His words were less loud and more emotional. But, I could see the spark of victory in his eyes. He was now posing before me as the knight who lost his army, but, killed all his rebels singlehandedly. He curled his lips in pride. And, why would not he? After all, its natural to feel triumphant when your body aches after you have won the match. He had won all that he aimed at.

I asked him at this point whether he smoked too much. Eagerly came the reply, I never expected to hear - "Kidneys have other reasons to fail too. I had quit smoking after the surgery." I looked at him with a cold facial gesture. He wore an expression of a thief caught red-handed. He took a pause. But, for a minute, I felt I was being insulted. Could he be thinking I'm a country quack to have asked about smoking?

The repercussions of the perceived insult kept coming into me while he went on talking about how he brought up his two sons. I knew he did not want to explain his kidney story. I did not probe again into it as I knew he did not want to admit his old cravings for tobacco. I could not help being plastic to his words now. The talk ended soon. I continued showing him my meaningless smile while he walked his mother out of my consultation room. "Take care", I told him while he parted the curtains smiling at me.

I realize that at times, people have difficulty coming to terms with their own weaknesses. I could, however, sense the optimism in him. I came across in him, a man who retired from his professional interests, but, playing the bigger game of family as a powerful opening batsman.