Friends in Deed

Although I run the risk of sounding like a ‘broken record’, I have to harken back to the recent days when the Flu Flash Mob chose me as its venue, stomping away in abandon on every viable organ of mine – holding sway by throwing them into disarray – the opposite of an actual Flash Mob!  Once under Mr.Flu’s evil spell, my olfactory, auditory, tactile and gustatory senses literally took leave of their senses – fabulously forgetting their functions! But what this pitiable period brought into focus – for the nth time – is the ‘powerful pull’ of family and friends.

When Bernard, my dear brother, heard about my flu attack, he got me started on medication. He and his darling wife, Petulia called my best friend every day to find out how I was progressing. This was the start of an overwhelming outpouring of love, concern, care and prayer by friends from every conceivable nook and corner of the world. I am sure you understand that this statement isn’t about numbers, but rather about God’s goodness and mercy that come to us in different ways, through different people. Oftentimes it is when we are in the ‘valleys of life’ that we come to see more clearly the ‘mountains’ of friends whose faith never fails to uplift. 

Every day the flu tried to test my patience, it was stopped in its terrible tracks by the wonderful words of love, comfort and strength that flashed on the phone, instantly reviving my drooping spirit. Known as one not easily to fall prey to passing seasonal infections, I presume they take their revenge whenever they find they can. Like recently when the flu suddenly struck, its tentacles trying to suck the life force out of me. Or so it thought – without reckoning the ‘Ring of Fire’ – my God-given circle of Friends In Deed!

 A note, “Sent with much love to hasten your full and complete recovery” alongside another which simply stated, “No eggs or butter, no return of the dish – even an empty one” was from our darling Mem (Dr.Prema Michael, former Principal of LDC) whose love knows no bounds when it comes to anyone / anything in need. Her dear auto driver, Sudhakar, would be at our doorstep every single day with a bag of ‘flu-shooing’ goodies accompanied by beautiful, uplifting, handwritten cards from Mem, always addressed to both Melwin and me – her Madurai son and daughter. At a time when we should be there lending our Mem sweetheart a helping hand, here she was, being God’s “Helping Handmaiden”.

Allwin and Deepika, a ‘doctor couple with a difference’, who’s Calling to heal the sick and ailing, is another of our darling God-given families. While Dr.Allwin lost no time in getting me all the medical attention that was needed to make sure Mr.Flu came with no hidden agenda, Dr.Deepika made sure I was having the right foods to arrest any further antics of the flu. So, in would come a large container of ‘naatu kozhi kulambu’ along with super soft red rice idlies, enough to feed an army! Needless to say, my kitchen happily enjoyed a long holiday.

Who would have thought that someone who was experiencing turbulent times in her own life would be one who readily stretched out a supportive hand! She, dear friends, is my dear Ida, a professor in a college near Chennai. Upon learning of my condition, Ida immediately fast-tracked packets of a natural, traditional, herbal mix that was the anathema of a cold and cough.  Her loving and prayerful messages couldn’t have come to me at a better time! Between my Ida’s herbal mix and our dear Mem’s podi (made by her dear Sudhakar), the cough and cold stood no chance! 

My dear Swathi ma, who is in the family way, never let the hiccups she was experiencing in the process, hinder her from cheering me up with her daily dose of sweet and comforting messages.  Closer home, all those dear friends of ours – Edriana Jeyasing, Joice Selvaraj,  Gale and Kevin Woolridge, Alison and Gerard Bentick, Joyce and Raymond Jackson, Seldon and Sylvia Fernandez, Shirley Soosai, Pam Rozario, Dew Lawrent, Esther Suganthi, Sylvia Freeman, Marie McConnell, Jessica and Max, Reena, Kishore, Evangeline Pratibha, Rohan and Linda Rigley, Leonard and Delphine Rigley, Amber and Cookie, Coral Fernandez, and our one and only Fr.

Devadass, our beloved parish priest, our mothers and our siblings, the tender, loving, care of my best-friend-cum-husband, and the many, many other dear friends – whose calls and messages, and tons of home cooked food delivered at our doorstep, rattled Mr.Flu’s rendezvous so much that he soon realized all his wooing and cooing came to naught in the face of so much love, care and prayer leaving him with no other alternative but to beat a hasty retreat. No turning back for him, and for me! And, as sure as the song goes – “Great things happen when God mixes with man!”