.....YEH JEEVAN HAI!....!!

At the age of 17, Jeevan was far ahead of any kid of his age. A son of a poor peon, Jeevan sure had come a long, long way! As he set his foot in the college campus, he pinched himself just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming!! Yes he had indeed secured admission in one of the best engineering colleges of Mumbai. And today was the first day…the first day of an Engineers life..…HIS life!! With a drafter tucked in his hand and with a rucksack containing drawing sheets and notebooks, Jeevan was already there…half an hour ahead of schedule! Today being the first day, he did not want to be late. His most coveted dream…something that he had always yearned for…was just half an hour away!!

Little Jeevan had always been punctual. Ten years of schooling and he had never missed a day! Always completed all his assignments on time.. always been the first to answer any question that was put up.. always been the first ranker of his school…that was Jeevan! He was the pride of his school or “ paathshaala” as they called it in his village! His dad, a mere peon at the same school, had endured a lot, toiled day and night; and today all his hard work had borne fruit! His son would not be another peon…he would be an engineer! Jeevan was lost in his thoughts when suddenly.. Trrrrringg…the bell rang! The first lecture was underway. When the day ended he was exhausted…plod.. plod, slowly he trudged his way back to the hostel.

As he was about to enter his room, he heard a noise….
Psst…
Again,
Psst..…..
As he turned round he saw five of the meanest faces that he had ever seen.
“Fresher”, they said in unison!
“Yes, sir,” he whimpered.
Born and brought up in a tiny village, Jeevan was oblivious to the gospel truth of the life in a hostel- RAGGING! And the first lessons’ had begun, extempore!! He was asked all sorts of questions-
#Imagine yourself to be a dog and show us how you would wag your tail.
#If you were to spend a night with Angelina Jolie, how would you do it?
#What’s your favorite brand of condom and what’s your taste-ridges or polka dots?
#What would you do if you were offered the role of the main protagonist in the movie-“ The Blue Lagoon?”

Jeevan imagined himself as a bread slice in a grill-toaster, with the ambient temperature somewhere in the not so comfortable 100 degrees! He realized how a chicken would feel during the butchering! The ragging sessions continued for the next few days….

One morning the seniors asked him to get movie tickets for them. He was asked to travel to Andheri, by train and get 8 tickets for the night show. Poor Jeevan was in a fix. If he dared to defy them, he was sure to get ragged at the hostel. Jeevan decided that he would go. He had never traveled in a local train before…his village had bullock carts instead!! He bought a ticket after waiting in the queue for half an hour. As he got to the station, the train arrived. It was so crowded that there was no way he could get in. He decided to catch the next. It was no better. Slowly minutes passed…he had already let go about five trains. He was getting impatient! As the next train rolled in he barged inside. He felt himself getting squashed like a pudding, surrounded by wet bodies drenched in sweat with different odours emanating from them…. And they say that the Mexican gas chamber is the worst, he told himself!! Every station would bring about the influx of more people…very much reminiscent of a recent movie that he had seen the other day-300!! Jeevan had, now, been forced to the door. He was dangling supported only by one foot and three fingers! Please God let me get the tickets, I want to return back as soon as possible, he thought.

Screeeech…..!! Suddenly, the train jammed its brakes…and it jolted dangerously!

And before anyone had realized, there was a vacant place at the door!!!
The train continued on its journey to the next station. After a minute and, probably, a kilometer later; the other people realized that the boy at the door was missing! At the next station, The Station Master was informed, right away. He rushed Railway Personnel to the scene. They were horrified at what they saw! Lying in a pool of blood with multiple lacerations and a cracked skull, was a lifeless mass!

They rushed him to the Municipal Hospital at Vile Parle. At the casualty the doctor on duty said that his condition was critical and that it was necessary to perform a CT Scan and that he may need a surgery at the earliest. His parents were summoned as they had to give consent for the surgery. The CT Scan showed a fractured skull with an extradural hematoma. The doctor explained that this was a collection of blood which was compressing the brain and would soon threaten to compress the vital centers at the base of the brain, unless an emergency operation was carried out! The surgery would be underway in the next few hours. Till then he would be put on advanced life support system in the TRAUMA ward. He was put on a ventilator with a thin plastic tubing connecting him to a source of oxygen…his thread of life!!!

His parents had arrived by now. They had no idea why he was traveling and where to. When they had received the news from the Village Sarpanch, they were dumbstruck. They felt the ground being swept from beneath their feet! They were rushed to the station (the Sarpanch, himself, volunteered to drive them to the station) from where they boarded a train to Mumbai. All through the journey, his mom wept inconsolably.

* * *

The doctors who had admitted Jeevan to the TRAUMA ward had left, by now. They had to prepare for the operation. There was no one next to him. Alone lay Jeevan, with his life sustained by the thin line supplying oxygen!
Creeeeeeeak…. The door creaked open and a sweeper entered the TRAUMA ward. This was the last part of his duty, he had to mop the floor and, then, he could leave. He was drunk, as usual, and set upon his job grumbling and mumbling to himself. Carelessly and hastily he cleaned the floor, himself swaying all the time. He was cleaning the floor around Jeevan’s bed, the last one, when ….Thud …

In his inebriated condition, he had bumped into the ventilator. He got up quickly, looked around, satisfied that no one had seen him fall and moved away.
All this while, Jeevan was lying calmly. But suddenly he started gasping, he was sweating all over, he was desperately trying to seek something… but what? ……Oxygen!!!

Yes, when the sweeper had bumped into the ventilator, the force of impact had dislodged Jeevan’s oxygen tube!! His last lifeline was snatched away from him. As he lay gasping in his bed, he could sense his life being seized away, he could feel the thread snapping…!

He wanted to be an engineer one day and wanted to put an end to all his family woes. How proud would his parents be when they would see him return with the B.E degree! He would work towards mechanization of the services in his village, just as Shahrukh Khan did in the movie SWADES; his favorite film.

* * *

Outside the ICU, the doctors were explaining the procedure to his parents. They consented to the procedure. Tears flowed down their cheeks, as they begged the doctors for his life-THEIR life!!! Soon the operation would be underway…and their Jeevan would be back, they thought. The doctors went inside the TRAUMA ward in order to transfer Jeevan to the Operation Theatre. When they reached his bed, a ghastly sight met their eyes! Lying on the bed was a lifeless, inert body, with outstretched, open hands….

Hands that had fought hard to hold on to something…… his dreams, his Baba and Aai’s happiness, his goal…and for all that he needed to grasp on to just one thing-his life! He fought a valiant battle, but lost it in the end!!
And next to him, dangling by his side, they saw, a thin plastic tube!!! The doctors froze… what would they explain to his parents? As they made their way out of the ward…they heard a song played out on the radio, held by a patient’s relative sleeping in the corridor-

“Yeh jeevan hai, is jeevan ka….
Yehi hai, yehi hai, yehi hai rang roop….
Thode gum hai, thode khushiyaan….
Yehi hai, yehi hai, yehi hai chav-dhoop…
Yeh jeevan hai………….!!!”