The Awakening

Dedicated to all the cancer patients and my inspiration Lance Armstron and my Mom



They had been trying to reach him for the last 24 hours in vain. No one knew where he had gone. It was his mom's first chemosession the next morning after the operation. They did not have time anymore to search for a brooding drunkard over a lost girlfriend.

Ravi woke up to the sunrise seeping through the doors of his car. He realised his head was spinning from the hangover of last night's drinks. He tried to look at the time and it was 12:45 PM. He got and sat in the car cursing himself. He had to go home and then try to get back to work. He was feeling miserable.

He reached home to find that his mom had been admitted to the hospital for ChemoTherapy. He was the talk of the neighbours about how his mom, Vasantha did not deserve such a coward and loser son. He went to the hospital. His sister scolded him for having absconded in times of trouble. He felt sick in his stomach. He called up his manager and applied for two days leave and promised his sister to stay back in the hospital and take care of his mom.

Late that night, Ravi opened his eyes to the cough of his mom. He switched on the light to see a fragile and aging woman who had brought him into this world trying to throw up whatever she can yet unsuccessfully. The chemo was taking its toll. He held out his hand and took her vomit in his hands. In all that suffering, tears rolled down vasantha's eyes. He was the only hope she had always lived for. She wanted to see him happy before cancer took her away. He washed his hand and came back. He helped her lie down and sat beside her. She fell asleep tiring. He stoked her chest for some relief. His hands trembled at the feeling. She had undergone a breast cancer operation and her breasts had been cut off to remove the cancerous tissue. What once was his feeding temple was a barren land. Tears rolled down his eyes. He stroked her head and with him came streaks of gray hair. The chemo had taken its toll. He felt like a fool. Here is a person who has seen him through all life's adversities and in her moments of crisis, he had backed off like a coward longing for a heartless female. He had read about chemotherapy and how all the injection of the same tears the veins with pain and how all the cell reproduction is stopped and its side effects. He saw it first hand. It was nothing to what his pain was. He promised that night, to give up his brooding and whining and dedicate his life to the lady who has taught him to walk. It was his turn to return the favor and he wouldn’t succumb this time. Everyone in this world can wait, or get lost. He wouldn’t care anymore. All he wanted to do was to bring the first lady of his life back to this world from the deadly clutches of an arrogant disease.

It dawned beautifully the next morning as he watched the sun rise in the far horizon spreading its light standing next to the window.