Cultural, literary gatherings suffer a stroke

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:  The cataract cloud in her eyes blurred the big, bold, coloured writings in the black diary. Ragini Teacher clumsily held it close to her straining eyes to browse through the beautifully written pages. The birthdays of Kovilan, Veloor and numerous other writers stacked the pages along with electricity bills and glossily-edged wedding cards that bulged out of the diary. Two blocks next to the room, the owner of the diary, Charcha Vedi Babu, lay asleep in a lattice of tubes inside the ventilator.  An active organiser of cultural and literary meetings over the last four decades, Babu was admitted to the hospital on Saturday following a massive stroke. A steady, faint breath and even fainter heartbeat filled the silent air inside the ventilator. Babu was still and silent as if in a prayer that would commence the innumerable cultural and literary unions he had organised.The prayer this time seemed too long. It just prolonged. No welcome speech followed. No brilliant oratory was heard. Instead, Babu lay there, his eyes closed and his face peaceful as ever. In the room, his daughter Lakshmi Chithra also waited with her mother Ragini for the prayer to end, waited for her father to wake up from his prayer and come to them.The vibrant cultural activist was, however, too deep in sleep. A cardiac arrest had blocked the circulation of blood to his brain four days ago. The man could survive the stroke, but not a more deadly consequence. ‘’The doctor has told us that his brain is damaged and there is no hope of a miracle,’’ a relative of Babu says trying to keep his voice as low as possible.‘’If there was any sign of recovery, it could have happened in the last 72 hours. But that did not happen. Now, any time, the ventilator is lifted, it is over.’’The mother and the daughter also know it, but keep talking to each other as though a single moment of silence could break them. ‘’He was fine. He even walked himself to take ECG. How could a man collapse after that? He even smiled at me while coming to the hospital in the auto. How could he be like this then? Should I have brought him in a car or something? Would that have helped?’’ Ragini Teacher repeats the words to the visitors and sometimes to herself.Lakshmi sat close to her mother, a folded hospital bill worth Rs 1,60,000 pressed safely in her palms. Ragini Teacher would not put down the diary even for a while. ‘’The next function is to be held on September 1. It is K P Kesava Menon’s commemoration. This diary is full of numbers, dates and addresses. In fact, he never wanted this. He was a helpline himself.’’ The visiting time was over. But, Lakshmi did not want to go. ‘’It hurts to see him so weak. I have never seen my father in a hospital bed. This is the first time,’’ she says, still hopeful that her father would come back.