Mother and Me

The Mother and Her Heart

I am not a literary man; although I wish I was one.

Here I am not talking about the heart that feels, the heart that thinks, the heart that opens, the heart that holds the secret of feelings, the heart that sinks at times, the heart that is the seat of the Kundalini, the heart that talks or the heart that is given. As a doctor, I am confining myself to the ‘heart’ that is an organ; a pump that ensures adequate blood supply to each and every organ of our body. This machine which the Divine has made is indeed most efficient — it is also the strongest. Imagine a heart beating about 75 times per minute for 70–80 years without stopping for even a few seconds! It is said that if it stopped for six minutes, first the brain and then the body would stop functioning. We are completely dependent on it! So when it misses a beat, we immediately become conscious of it. It is as if something has been lost — an empty feeling of a slump and even a temporary dissolution. Thankfully, it is usually extremely transitory and more often than not, the heart starts beating again. We also become conscious of its beating under the chest when it beats too strongly, too irregularly, too slowly or too fast. Otherwise, imagine this — in the life span of a 70-year-old, it beats more than 270 million times and pumps more than 70 kilotons of blood without stopping! It teaches us to rest while still at work!

Fairly early in our relationship (without having examined the Mother), I asked, “Mother, how long has it been since your heart has been beating irregularly?” She gave a surprised look and asked, “How do you know that my heart beat is irregular?” I chuckled and said, “Mother, when I first met you while you were blessing me, my hand involuntarily held your wrist and felt your pulse. So I learnt that your heart beat is irregular.”

She gave a broad smile and told me that she became aware of it ‘about forty years ago’ while she was climbing stairs and ever since, she knew her heart was beating irregularly but did not do anything nor consult anyone about it. She accepted it and never bothered about it. She was a classic case of auricular or atrial fibrillation. In my professional experience, she was the second case of atrial fibrillation which did not exhibit any symptoms for such a long duration.

The first was my maternal grandmother who used to take her flock of goats up in the mountains for grazing till she was 70. She lived in a remote village in the mountains of Garhwal. When I was a medical student, I made a clear diagnosis — atrial fibrillation due to rheumatic heart disease with a prognosis of a year or two at the most. She was about 50 at the time and I had just received a ‘best student’ award in Medicine and was certain I was right! When I next visited her three years later, I was already a doctor (a senior house officer or a Registrar) and I found my Grandma was as agile as ever and continuing her normal routine of taking her goats up to the mountains for grazing!

She must have been walking at least ten kilometers and would also have to run to control the straying goats. Undoubtedly, she needed to be very swift and agile to do this! So naturally, I was surprised to see her in such a healthy condition. I next visited my village after five years and grandma was still the same. By then I was an Assistant Professor of Medicine. When I re-examined her, she was in her early sixties. Apart from the fact that she had a little breathing problem, she was doing pretty well. She must have been well into her late seventies when I got the news from home that she had quietly passed away. Perhaps the time of leaving the body is determined by parameters other than what we learn in medical schools.

So the heart is indeed a wonderful organ — it has marvelous reserve; it can and does work wonders, particularly when it beats in someone who is simple and accepts what has been given by the Divine. The Mother’s heart was not only simple but truly Divine.