A good turn

-by KParthasarathi Friday, May 30, 2008
http://content.msn.co.in/Contribute/Others/UCStory6945.htm
I know well I am not a normal person and very different from my siblings. I bear no grudge when people including my family members speak ill of me. They are right in thinking that I have brought shame to my family. It is true that I fell into bad ways from a very young age when I started smoking thrown away cigarettes. I stole from my dad’s purse and filched things to get money. I started drinking whenever I earned money from snatching chains. I was at the bottom of my class and was severely warned when I wrote a love letter to my teacher. I was rusticated when I kissed a girl in the class. Even when I was seventeen I had regular sex with a woman older by twenty years. I had posed as a rich man and duped several girls with stolen vehicles. I was into drugs too. Little wonder that my parents and siblings disowned me and avoided me completely. I still remember the day when my dad hit me with his belt ordering me to get out of his sight and house for ever. The memory of my mother with tears trickling from her eyes is still vivid.
I have no regret that I have not made my family proud of me. All my siblings got settled in life with and had nice wives. My eldest brother had a soft corner for me being the youngest in the family. He had often pleaded in vain with to mend myself. Even after I left them, he used to give some money whenever we met. He would tell me that his doors were open for me if only I changed to honourable ways. However much I liked him, I could not change myself. Life was hard for me. There were nights when I had to sleep without a dinner. I had no decent place to live. I kept changing cities like a nomad as the police were hounding me. I had done some small terms in the prison. Years flew by and I was leading a humdrum life in a city slightly away from my parents place.
I came to know one evening that my eldest brother was in the hospital in a critical condition. I thought of his good natured wife and their three young children. My brother was not well off and his family depended on his monthly salary. I became restless and took the next bus to the city. It was past 8pm when I reached the hospital. I saw my parents, brother’s wife and my brothers in the lounge with grim faces. My mother must have been weeping. Except my mom and the young lady everyone turned their faces away. They dared not speak to me in the presence of my dad who had nothing but scorn for me. He came to me and said in curt tone “You are not wanted here. Please go away.” I replied “This is a public place and I do not require your leave to stay here.” He turned abruptly and left in a huff.
I went to the nurse sitting in the work station and told her that I was patient's intimate friend and that I have come to help in any manner if only I knew what his problem was. She thought for a while and said that my brother suffered from chronic renal failure of both kidneys. He has become too weak even for dialysis. Transplantation is the only solution. His blood group being unusual, they were not getting donors to match. The blood groups of the family members did not match. The situation has become critical as he is falling into coma.
It was then the senior doctor attending on my brother entered. I accosted him despite protests from the nurse and told him that I was patient's friend and that I was willing to donate my kidney immediately. I requested him to see the suitability as my blood group and his were identical. When he agreed , I told him that my only stipulation was my identity should not be revealed to the patient or his family. He agreed and asked me to get admitted the next day.
Things went smoothly thereafter. With the tests revealing compatibility, one of my kidneys was removed and transplanted to him. In a fortnight my brother was discharged certified as fit. I learnt from the doctor that the patient’s parents and family wanted to know the name and whereabouts of the Good Samaritan for them to thank and reward. The doctor had declined to part with the information.
The effects of surgery, lack of nutritious food, medicine and care had left me weak and exhausted. I could not go out to do even the shady work I was accustomed to. But my heart was filled with happiness that I could do one good turn to my brother who was kind and loving to me.
Kpartha12@hotmail.com