A Battle for Life
A Battle for Life
I was driving down the highway.
I saw a car coming towards me.
A crash. A bang.
I was in an accident.
I must live.
I felt like I was in a black tunnel.
All my thoughts and feelings running this way and that in my head.
I felt as if my brain was a stock market and the sales had dropped.
I saw people. I saw family. I saw disaster.
I must live.
People in white were all over me.
Poking and prodding, examining and operating my body.
I felt numb with pain. I felt life rushing out of me.
I cannot die.
I must live.
My mind was blank.
Who am I? What happened? Am I alive?
Where am I? Am I in heaven?
I saw people crying. Were they my family?
I see my wife. I must reach her.
I must live.
I'm not done with my responsibilities.
I have a wife, a daughter, a sister dying of cancer, and my aging mother.
I cannot die. They need me.
I must live.
Will there be a tomorrow or is this the end?
I can't give up. I must fight. I must win.
I must live.
Now I am driving down the highway.
I see no car coming towards me.
No crash. No bang.
I am not in any accident.
I lived.
- Mohini Chakravorty
Mohini, age 12, wrote the above poem as a part of class project called "Reflections". It is a tribute to Viren Mayani, an active community member and a freelance correspondent who frequently writes for Khabar magazine. Viren had recently suffered a near-fatal car accident. After many surgeries he miraculously survived. In spite of his tender condition, Viren is in India supporting his family at the time of the demise of his sister who was suffering from cancer. Mohini says, "Viren is my hero, because he didn't give up the fight" in spite of the monumental challenges he has gone through and is still going through.
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