When Breath Becomes Air...

Title of the blog is confusing,isn't it! I finished reading book "When Breath Becomes Air" on Sunday evening (5th May 2019) and I spent my Monday quite restlessly. Firstly I thought it could be Monday blues but no it wasn't. It was impact of Dr. Paul Kalanithi!

Paul Kalanithi was a neurosurgeon who was diagnosed with lung cancer at the age of 35 and he could survive just a year :(. His profile is very impressive with Stanford and Harvard on his list.
This book is about a very intelligent and successful doctor who does life critical surgeries on his patients, goes thru dilemma of informing the delicate condition to friends and relatives of the patients and one fine day finds himself in the same life threatening condition.

Book largely has medical notions and terminologies but Paul is philosophical throughout.Being a doctor, he is aware of the growth of his disease. He exactly knows "When is the Time" and that is scary.
Last chapter particularly makes a reader very sad and introspective.I was stunned to see the courage displayed by Paul when he gets admitted last time and rejects incubation. He feels the death..he knows that "This is how it ends"!! No matter what amount of reading we do or prayers we chant ,i dont think one can prepare for a death. I wonder about the journey afterwords..does soul realizes that it is leaving one body and entering into new one. Throughout life we are so attached to material /immaterial things/people but suddenly when Breath becomes air...all of it doesn't make any sense.

A must read book for like minded friends.

Gargi's Tiny

Last month, on a rainy morning, I went to wish good morning to all my lovely plants in my balcony and suddenly one little cripper caught my attention and I almost jumped with the excitement. It was little "Tiny" peeping out from the middle of another plant!

On start of new year,2011,I traveled to California on 3 months work assignment. Gargi was 9 and courageously bid me goodbye. She was in the safe hands of her father and grandparents. Apart from this, one person who played good role in supporting her during that time was dear friend, Manju Dhume. Gargi was going to her for value based lessons. As a part of that, Manju distributed pots with seeds sowed to all the kids of the class. In few days, little sapling grew and voila Gargi got her new friend. She named it "Tiny" and would talk to Tiny for long and used to take lot of care. I mostly feel she would have shared everything she would share with her mom (if I were in Pune).

Since then Tiny has seen many ups and downs :) At times, it would bloom then it would disappear but we felt very happy every time it bloomed. Two years back, we lost it completely ..means there were no signs of it during monsoon or spring season. Felt bad on losing our little Tiny :(


From January 2011 till June'2019 ...8 years passed  and it has resurfaced again. I guess, its all Gargi's love towards little plant which has helped it sustain all adversities in it's life cycle. I understand that all other kids had lost their plants in few months but our Tiny is 8 years old now!  It makes me proud of my both the kids and has special place in my heart.

Seeing Gargi and Tiny grow together is a beautiful experience.