In response to a request made in my post Election 2012 – Yes on Bath Crayons, Jacinta Correa sent me a beautiful tribute she wrote to Kushboo, a student in her school whose life was intertwined with hers in a very powerful, very personal way...
Mid June is ‘back to school’ time in Mumbai, but in June, 1998, Kushboo and I didn’t make it to school on reopening day. A couple of weeks earlier, my casual medical check-up at a local clinic had revealed a malignant tumour…and even as my family and I reeled from this initial shock, we were told the cancer was in a fairly advanced state. I was hospitalized immediately.
It was in
hospital that I heard about Kushboo, the little fifth standard child from my
school who had been diagnosed with leukemia and was also in hospital, also
battling for life. “Every morning at the school assembly we pray for Kushboo
and you” my teacher friend, visiting me in hospital, told me.
Two years,
several chemo sessions and a surgery later…a miraculous remission…and I was
back in school.
And two months
after that, we joyously welcomed back a beaming Kushboo. Her father, mother and
little brother, all bursting with happiness, distributed sweets in school. It
was a beautiful day.
But our joy
was short-lived. A couple of months later, Kushboo was sick again and back in hospital.
And again
the entire school stormed heaven with prayers as the child struggled painfully
with chemotherapy and radiation. But the brave little girl, after fighting back
valiantly for almost a year, finally lost her battle against cancer.
I was spared and sweet, innocent, twelve-year-old
Kushboo wasn’t. Why?
Indeed as
the Bible says: “How unsearchable are His judgments
and how inscrutable His ways!” (Romans 11:33).
I’d like to share
this tribute of love I wrote for Kushboo, for her classmate and friend to read
out, at the school assembly.
(P.S: Kushboo in Hindi means fragrance)
Kushboo
Kushboo
Fragrance
filled the morning air,
As
each day,
We
lifted your name to God, in prayer.
And
asked the Heavenly Father above
To
protect from pain the friend we loved
As
quietly in your bed you’d lie,
The
pain, we know, sometimes made you cry.
And
with anguished hearts we asked God: "Why?
Your
little one you so sorely try?”
What
His purpose is, we do not know
For a
mother’s heart to be shattered so.
For a
father’s heart to be frozen in grief,
As he
waited...in vain… for a little reprieve
From
a cancer that was taking a terrible toll
Of a
beloved daughter and a father’s soul.
While
a brave little brother shed silent tears,
His
world a blur of anxiety and fears
Three
long years you battled on…
Your
strength weakening; but your spirit strong.
And
in each of our hearts you carved a place.
Our
lives have been touched by your courage and grace
And
as, once more today, we lift our hearts in prayer,
Kushboo
fills the morning air.
And
the sweet sad fragrance, all around us, flung
Is
the fragrance of courage in one so young.
It’s
the fragrance of innocence,
And
incredible endurance.
Kushboo,
you touched our hearts…
Kushboo,
you MADE A DIFFERENCE.
Postscript by Minoo
Life asks us to be bigger than ourselves; bigger than our limitations of birth, wealth and talent, bigger than our ambitions, sometimes even bigger than the devastating financial, health or relationship setbacks and blows that may strike us at any time.
This tribute
to Kushboo stands out to me as a shining example of someone “being bigger than
themselves”.
While Jacinta
could have focused on herself and the fearful diagnosis that had been handed
out to her and all she had been through as a result of it, she instead found
the words to write a tribute to Kushboo, the little girl who had lost her life too
early.
We all have
it in us to be bigger than ourselves.
And it will
come out at one time or another.
If you can’t
recall a time in your life when you were bigger than yourself, don’t worry.
There’s plenty
of time up ahead.
When you do
find yourself responding to life’s challenges by being bigger than yourself, I would
be honored to hear your story.
As I am honored
to hear the stories of so many people who have been bigger than themselves.
My post
Lessons From My Personal Heroes tells of a couple (dear friends of mine) who
were bigger than themselves in spite of a devastating loss; and my post How to Let Nothing Come Between You and a Fulfilling Life tells of people who have
not let their limitations limit their capacity to lead a fulfilling life.
And there
are also many untold stories.
Whether it’s
my aunt in Delhi teaching her maidservant’s children, my friend Sangeetha in
Chennai getting involved in her tailors’ lives, Walnut creek couple Ann and Jim
attending to the podiatric needs of the homeless in San Francisco, my friend
Anita cleaning the bathrooms of the Buddhist temple in Bangalore, Mercy, the Catholic
Charities volunteer visiting my Mum twice a week while I was at work, or people
in my own family putting the needs of others first, these
stories are uplifting, heartening and have been a shining light to me.
I salute you
all and thank you for your example.
Jacinta, I
would like to thank you for this beautiful tribute.
Dear reader,
Jacinta will be guest-posting again next week and I have donned my
journalist hat (a new hat, for those of you who have read my post “What I Think About When I Wear My Different Hats” and my post “Dare to Share”) to get a brief bio from her and find out what a few of her favorite things are to include with that post. So do come back again next week.
As always, thanks for reading and have a great day.
