Monday, April 29, 2013

Turn down the volume please!

Last month, March 2013, wasn't a good month for my Dad. He is sick and aging. He had multiple surgeries on his back. That has made him to fall sick often. My wonderful brother who is very understanding, takes care of my dad, whenever the situation demanded, though my dad wasn't a good father to us all these years. I guess he is realizing how good we are, now, after seeing us taking care of him during his bed ridden days. He speak more words to us these days, lying on his bed, when we least expect him to utter a word. The bad part is that he choose to speak when we want to retire to bed in the night, tired. But we can't blame him. That is the only time of the day when he finds us free for him.

We have a very noisy and foul mouthed neighbor, who keeps shouting at his helpers around the house, irrespective, of the time of the day and night. He moved in to that house three years back and since then, we are having a hard time to maintain quietness near our home. He is the only person in the whole neighborhood who makes such a lot of noise. We grew tired of requesting him to talk softly at least in the night. The TV that he has installed, in the verandah, for his helpers blares 24/7. We sometimes mistake the cry of a woman in any movie on the TV, for the cry for help of some one at his home or on the road or on the neighborhood.

They were those days, when my dad felt better and was managing himself to walk around the house. It was 4.00am that morning. I heard a feeble voice from some where that woke me up. I heard it thrice. I thought that was from the TV from my neighbor's house. I came out of my bedroom. I didn't hear any noise. I went to rest room and then came back to bed. I was about to close my eyes and go to sleep. I heard the same voice again, four times. I still thought it was from the TV. Suddenly, I heard my brother, who was sleeping in the bedroom next to my dad's, stumbling on his way to dad's bedroom, yelling,"Yeah, Am coming". Only then, I realized that it was actually my dad who was calling my brother, all these time. I rushed to my dad's bedroom and saw my dad lying on the floor, near the door with his face down. My brother lifted him from the floor and set him on the bed. He said that he felt dizzy while he was returning from the bathroom and that he couldn't manage to reach the bed and fell flat on his face on the floor. He said that he has been calling us for five minutes. And that he was lying there for more than ten minutes.

And later that morning, he complained of severe headache. He couldn't remember whether he hit his head either on the chair next to his bed or on the door or anywhere else. We took him to the doctor. The doctor asked us to take a CAT scan. The scan result showed a blood clot on his brain. He is under medication now.

If  only, we had a more quieter environment, then we could have saved my dad from the mental trauma of lying on the floor without any clothes for more than ten minutes. Probably he waited for me to come to his bedroom to help him, while I past his bedroom to go to the rest room. He later realized that I wasn't coming and then started calling again for help. I felt sad for him and bad of myself for not checking his bedroom. My mom told us that she too, heard the voice many times and mistook it for the noise from the neighbor's TV.

Friends, if you have the habit of watching TV and sleeping without switching it off, then please change this habit. Some body, some where might need help and you would miss the chance to help them. If you used to watch TV at a high volume, then please reduce the volume. You will be helping your ailing neighbors and their family, by doing so. Thanks for listening to me.


Luv u all
Uma
Freelancer

No comments:

Post a Comment