Many of the flavours of life come from the people we associate with - friends, extended/family, acquaintances. A niece from my large extended family recently became a mother. In a way, it now gives me the status of a grandmother and my greys could find a place of pride on my warped head! I can also happily, and justifiably so, dole out (un)solicited advice. At the same time I also watch the seniors in the same family brace for the problems that old-age brings along. It sometimes makes me sad to see the strong and able bodies of not so long ago, slowly lose their strength as the confident stride gives way to tentative, slow steps; as the once radiant faces now hide behind an ominous pallor; the sharp mind of yesteryears take longer to comprehend now; as the weakened vision sees a world changed far beyond the memories that it helped create. But I am also happy that I am in that space where I can, on the one hand, partake of the joys of a new generation, and on the other, be blessed by being there for the seniors when they need us around the most.
One such experience lead me to donating blood yesterday.
“Namaskara! I have come to donate some blood”, I said.
“Yes, Madam…”, the person at the counter said, as I waited in anticipation for him to complete the sentence. But I clearly misunderstood the pause in his sentence.
He handed me a form and asked, “Blood group, madam?”
“A-ve”, I said, as I took the form from him and he reported to the person inside - “Madam is A-ve.”
“Is there I problem?”, I asked quizzically.
“No takers, madam!”, he responded.
I suddenly felt like I was out in the market selling a product that was not too popular!
“It’s a rare blood type”, I said, trying to convince him to take my blood!
“That’s why, madam. We rarely get a patient needing it!”
“Okay, so statistically, what are the blood types that are most in demand?”
He rattled of a list as I got busy filling the details in the form.
"So, all that's blood and mine is water?", I responded, feeling quite silly at a poor attempt of translating the Hindi film dialogue - tumhara khoon, khoon, or humara khoon, pani.
Once done, I told him, “It’s royal blood. Still not interested?”
They took 350 ml, handing me a tetra-pak of juice in exchange!
Sigh, the value of ‘royal blood’!
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