What is right or what is wrong?

Often in life we become judgmental. It is so easy to pass a judgement especially when it comes to others. It should be admitted here that I have had this habit for a long long time. After hearing the incidents such as the one I am going to narrate now, the habit is far more controlled. It is one of those few treasured moments in the UAE when I had the privilege of trying to be some use to people around me. One of the social groups were carrying on the noble task of helping the helpless. The task at hand was to fill up some forms at a hospital. The form was a part of the formality of releasing a dead body for the purpose of sending it back to India. These are bodies usually of persons who have nobody in the UAE to do it for them.

As I was filling the form, my heart almost stopped. The date of expiry of the deceased person was more than six months prior to the date of the form being filled. I was completely flabbergasted. I expressed my shock to the colleague who was guiding me in the task. It was then he told me the story of Chandran. Chandran, like most of others, came to the UAE in pursuit of his dreams. He had six dependents back home that included an aged mother, a wife and 4 children. He was a construction worker. It was the phase, when tall buildings in Dubai were built at record times. In the course of the construction of such a high rise building there was a rare accident. Chandran fell from quite a height. Among his several physical injuries, he had lost his senses. He had slipped into a coma. He had been admitted to a Hospital.

His employer-company made the initial attempts to contact the family of Chandran back home. It was one of those families who do not even have a telephone line to contact. There was a big difficulty to establish contacts. The pursuit was soon given up. Chandran was in the hospital, unconscious for over 3 months. Finally, when he did regain his senses, he was just a vegetable on bed. Almost all his limbs were dis functional. This man, who had been working for 12 years in the UAE with a meager amount of salary which was enough to feed the family back home. The family, who he could visit just about 6 timers over the time he had been in UAE.

The family was then contacted. The family was informed about the accident and the position of Chandran. They were informed that they would have to pay about 8500 Dhs to release Chandran from the hospital and also spend on the ticket to get him home. The sole bread-winner of the family was lying helpless in a small corner of a hospital with nobody to take care of him. Th family could not gather the money required. Chandran did not know anybody who would bring his case to the attention of the Indian consulate. This went on for over 8 weeks.

The plight of Chandran and his family was completely helpless. Chandran, could not even walk out of his bed on his own. His wife, was trying to make ends meet at her home with totally five to feed. One of the last conversation that was had with her, she even had to say that it was not possible for her to send the money. The person who had been earning for the family was now not able to get back to them. It was easy for people to judge and pass comments on the wife saying that she did not do enough. If one really got into the place of Chandran's wife, they would understand the torment she was going through. As fate would have it, Chandran died in the hospital after three months fighting with the complications that came after the accident. The dead body was lying in the morgue for over six months. The necessary money to send the body was being organized. The family was told that the body is being sent and they would not have to spend anything on the same. This is one of the stories, I did not want to hear again. We know that fate is really cruel at times but this was unbearable. After hearing this incident, I learnt two things - one, that there is no point wasting time on what is wrong or what is right and two that I must really be thankful that I am not in the position of Chandran or his wife. God bless his soul and his family.