MY MOTHER'S MIRACLE
Can someone volunteer and tell me what the short form D.O.B. stands for?
Yes. Absolutely right. It stands for Date of Birth.
Now can anyone try, what the short form D.O.D.
stands for? Yes. Its Date of Death.
Without referring to Near Death Experience, or NDE,as it is popularly called, has anyone present over here ever experienced
death? If yes, then please raise your hands on top like this.
I can see only one hand raised up, and that is
mine.
Good evening, toastmasters and guests. Today I am going to share with
you all a very personal and emotional experience of my mother, which I call My
Mother’s Miracle.
For everyone, DOB stands for Date of Birth. For me it was Dead on
Birth. Yes. I was nicely sleeping in my mother’s comfortable womb when I
was forcibly pulled out with the doctor’s cold and surgical stainless-steel
forceps.
I arrived into this world, not crying, not laughing either. But perfectly quiet and sleeping.
Doctors in their medical language like to call
this phenomenon during deliveries “STILL BIRTH” or “SIDS,” standing for “sudden
infant death syndrome” or “DEAD AT BIRTH.”
A stillbirth results in a baby born without any 4
vital signs of life,
such as breathing, heartbeat, umbilical cord pulsation, or involuntary muscle
movement.
After a lot of medical efforts, all of the maternity ward
doctors gave up and failed to wake me up and revive me. But my mother NEVER
GAVE UP. She did not accept the doctor’s decision and declaration that her newbornchild was dead.
Even on their medical charts, I was already
declared as stillbornor dead.
But my mother, already having 4 grown-up children,
did not give up on me. She NEVER GAVE up.
On repeated requests, when the team of maternity
doctors still refused to try reviving me anymore, my mother, under extreme
stress, got temporary short-term insanity.
My mother went into a wild fit of rage. She physically beat a couple of doctors black & blue. She even stabbed a doctor with some
injection that she got her hands on.
To pacify my mother, then the doctors said that they will try using
a large-sized ice block to revive me. They placed me on my stomach, then rolled
me over onto my back. This continued on for some time. Still, the child did
not cry.
This is the second time that the entire team of
maternity doctors gave up on their efforts and pronounced me dead all over
again.
By now my mother’s rage was very violent and
uncontrollable.
The doctors wanted to make her unconscious and calm, but no one dared to go
close to her. An FIR was lodged on 100, and the police were summoned too.
A police jeep with an entire team of female cops
and one senior police inspector rushed into the maternity ward of the hospital.
With the dead child in her hands, my mother got down on her
bended knees, begged and pleaded, and prayed to the police officer. The police
officer argued with her as to what he could do.
My mother suggested hegive me a good beating. Beat him like you beat
the criminals in the lockup. The police officer remarked in Marathi, “Vedi jali
hi bai,” meaning in English, This woman has gone mad.
Finally the three-star police officer gave in to my mother's pleadings, and after her repeated requests, he broke protocol and removed his police officer's uniform shirt and his officer's cap from his head. Mum recollected
clearly remembering the Mumbai cop in a white banian (innerwear).
The police officer held me upside down by my two
tiny legs in his one large hand. He stepped in to give me a good beating on my
back. Before starting, he muttered loudly in the Marathi language, “Melela
aahe toh. Marun ani kai Marnar.” Meaning, “It’s dead already; a
little more beating won’t hurt or kill him anymore.”
Finally, after a good police beating, I did cry. I was
crying, and everyone around me, I am told, was shouting and screaming with joy. It
was nothing less than a miracle for my mother that day. Hence, my middle name is
JESUS. Denzil Jesus Dias. For my mother, I was born dead, and yet today I am
alive.
To conclude, I would love to connect this incident to all of our lives. Never give up easily. Never give up because others have given up on you. Just like my mother never gave up on me. Just like that Mumbai cop who never gave up on me. All of us have to be in our personal and professional lives like my mother or that Mumbai cop. We have both of them hidden somewhere in our lives. That mother or that cop who will continue slapping us if we are dead. But the fire within you should be awesome to get up, be awesome, and rise and shine ahead. No matter what. Even if you are dead. NEVER GIVE UP. NEVER GIVE UP. I repeat again for emphasis. Even if you are dead. NEVER GIVE UP. NEVER GIVE UP.
