I wrote the following article when after having made numerous visits to see Lt Col Karanbir Singh Natt, lying in coma at Military Hospital, Jalandhar. As he continued in the vegetative state, the hopes of the family and well wishers faded. He ultimately died on 23 December 2023.
No Easy Answers
He lies in bed, eyes flutter, at times half shut, asleep / awake without caring about day or night. Every time I go to look up him I hope and pray to hear about some progress in him towards signs of improvement towards recovery but these have alluded so far. The improvement is negligible.
I first met Captain Karanbir Singh
Natt during Operation Prakaram while we were deployed at Gurdaspur border. He
was with his platoon of BRDMs (kind of armoured cars with anti tank
missiles). He was full of josh and
raring to go for the tasks across the border. He often volunteered to with
forward most troops and reccee the areas across. As things cooled down we all
withdrew to our respective peacetime locations.
We lost touch thereafter.
It was in 2018 when I was posted in
Jalandhar that I heard about him being brought to Military Hospital. I
immediately remembered our days of deployment at Gurdaspur Border and went to
look him up. It was simply devastating to see him lying in state of coma. I was
told that after leaving army he joined the Territorial Army and was injured during
an encounter with terrorists in Kashmir Valley in 2015. As he was grievously
injured in his jaw the medical complication resulted in cut off of oxygen to
his brain for a brief period, leading to his being in the state of coma post
life saving surgery.
Despite special care and treatment
carried in consultation with reputed doctors there has been no improvement. His
father (a veteran himself), mother and wife hinge their hopes on the day when
he wakes up from that deep sleep / coma. The family has tried all sorts of
therapies and hasn’t left any stone
unturned. All kind of treatments to include, Ayurveda, Homeopathy , besides Allopathic, have yielded no results.
I have often seen the quote in various
hospitals, “I treat He cures”. Faith takes on where there are no answers found
in medical science. It has been nearly seven years ; the prayers of the family
, which also includes his two young daughters , have not been answered yet. How
long? When will the miracle happen? That
also leads to another question as to why the family has been subjected to such
long suffering. I marvel at their fortitude and their staidness. I have read
the book ‘Does He know a mother’s heart : How suffering refutes religions’ by
Arun Shourie where he has tried to find answers from various religions as to
why Good people are are made to suffer. Simply blaming it to previous birth
doesn’t stand to logic. He has not found any worthwhile answer. Famous writer Khushwant Singh also tried
looking into the same answer he could not find it. But, where does a simple man
seek refuge under such calamity? Remembering God and asking for His benevolence
to bless the sufferer by answering his prayers. But for how long should one
wait? We often say the God is taking the
test of your patience, but how
long should it continue? There are no answers. If someone has it please shoot.
Meanwhile walk up to the Karanbir’s family
to share a word of compassion, hope, empathy and of course prayer to the
Almighty.
The article was published in The Tribune on 01 Nov 2021, under the heading 'For How Long One Must Suffer' and can be viewed by clicking on the link below :-
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/musings/for-how-long-one-must-suffer-332562
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