Seventh Heaven is a state of euphoria but a mail from Google pushed me beyond. It stated that since I have reached level 9 I am invited to apply for Connect Live 2019. Disbelief soon turned into trepidation. Why me? I have never used connect or hosted a meet up. The very thought of standing before a camera for my application video is making my hands clammy. As a Local Guide my activities are sporadic.
But my reviews and photographs are sometime liked and a good response gives me a high. The clicks with shaky hands draw mind boggling number of views that makes me wonder what is it in that photograph. Yes I love the encouraging emails, ‘Hi Gautam, 300,000 views!’ Or ‘Your review is making a difference – 21,127 people saw your review!’ Or ‘This email was sent to you because a business has replied to your review.’ …etc.
While dreaming about hosting a meet-up on a boat, my reverie is broken by my doctor. He looks askance that I am rubbing the chemotherapy port inserted under the skin on my chest. I call the chemo-port, an USB port and it elicits a smile, my doctor is happy that the port has freed my hands to type lying down on my hospital bed and help the corroded veins of my hands to recover.
Since 2011, I have seen too many hospitals in Kolkata and Mumbai and have posted about them. At last I have found my choice hospital at Howrah. Their reputations attract patients from neighbouring countries and from other Indian states. Someone calls me from another hospital to discuss my review posted long ago wherein I had highlighted their deficiencies and what could be done about it. Now I am elated and happy to contribute.
Morbid thoughts cross my mind. Before diagnosis, I never realized what a big thing cancer was, and I never realized who can get it, and I never realized how many people have it. In my long fight against the extraordinary emperor of maladies, the cheerfulness of many doctors, nurses and support staff helped me bear the pain of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. I am not scared of dying, yet I think about life and death.
Emily Levine’s last talk on the Gift of Life and Death rings loud and clear in my mind, “I simply just don’t understand the mindset of people who are out to defeat death and overcome death. How do you do that? How do you defeat death without killing off life? It doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t want to be immortal. I have no interest in having my name live on after me.”
With my wife of forty years beside me, I did not “… feel the breath of god of death drawing closer…" I said to myself that I am not dying soon. My wife and I shall complete our dream computer training centre in a remote area of rural Bengal. We have been actively associated with an Ashrama of the Ramakrishna Order, a self sufficient community hub located in Beldiha, a remote area of rural Bengal.
Despite all odds the Ashrama has not only survived but has also emerged as the hub for many social welfare activities, to transform the lives of the people, specially, the youth. Among its many activities: it provides free coaching to students, operate a student hostel and provide vocational training. Periodically, it organizes medical and eye camps too. In the little farm land it grows rice, potato, vegetables that fulfil its day to day need to some extent.
But it lacked steady power supply, reliable internet services and teachers to operate a computer training centre that had the possibility of generating employment. Let me admit that we and other volunteers did not succeed in improving the power supply or the internet services. But we did succeed in introducing computerization of the Ashrama accounts by installing Tally. A breakthrough came by way of 30 old computers donated by Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.
We were now in a position to start a Computer Training Centre. At first 20 students enrolled for the basic course. Over a time the numbers swelled. Even in remote areas students know the importance of computer literacy for employment or to run a business successfully. Since we could not get volunteer computer teachers, it is a computer savvy monk who trains students on condition that they will train others in return.
Unique problems require unique solution and the volunteers are creative enough to come out with many. For example computer teachers can remotely train students through Skype and TeamViewer. We are working on it and believe we will succeed as soon as the internet services improve. A small thing like adding Beldiha Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama in Google Map increased the footfall of devotees who visit religious destinations which are about 20 KMs away.
Each improvement in my health opens a small window, like this January, when I could travel with my wife for around 10000 km by many modes of transport including wheelchair at the airports, in the strong arms of two gentlemen who helped me up to get into boats and climb steep staircases of a temple. End-April we are scheduled to travel to a few destinations in Himalayas that will probably help me reach Level 10.
I know it will be an uphill task for me to make it to Connect Live 2019. It does matter and despite odds I will put in my best, for I know, ” 'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”
