a wake up call in times of hardship, others have it worse

During this very trying period where I have to work to make ends meet, and find myself hopefully temporarily deficit financing, until I am able to get back to normal, this is a human interest segment that I feel I should relate.

I was fortunate enough to get a ride to the farm on Friday, so that I could spend the weekend there for the first time since my accident. I was therefore able to at least sleep on my bed for the first time in nearly two months! The room was slightly gutted off some of the small luxuries, as I had my radio (bought with my first paycheck in 1978) taken to my sister's so I could listen, and my bed side lamp likewise removed, I was still home with smells and sounds of the farm.

My caregiver went home on Saturday morning and returned late on Sunday, so I was all alone in the house, with no music or TV just left to ponder what next! I had a few dogs wondering what had happened to me, and Hugo Rama, ( short for Hugo Parakrama Bahu, the Ridgeback) sleep under my bed and Soma and Megha running around the room for company. I was therefore able to be alone in the house, with the doors open as the dogs were all the security I needed at the time.

The other two dogs, Mala and Bahu the Ridgeback pair were in their kennels as they were too boisterous to be sent up to me, as they would insist on my fawning over them, and I was not in a physically fit state to do so without them trying to push me!

There were some from the neighborhood who dropped into have a chat and esquire after me, and the staff who live in separate quarters saw to my meals, but for the rest of the time it was just me and the dogs.

On Sunday afternoon(March 20th), Soma decided it was time to give birth to her pups, and in a room near the kennels produced 5. Soma is a Dalmatian, and the father was Bahu the ridgeback. The pups (see www.sinhabahuridgeback.blogspot.com) were all jet black, some with white socks and others with white on their under bellies. This was unexpected as I thought there would be some white and some brown in the mix. Three of the pups have a distinct ridge.

I could not find any instance anywhere on the internet of the Dalmatian Ridgeback mix to make any comparison and if any of the readers can help me there I will be grateful. Remember both these breeds have the same body and bone structure and only the color and markings are different, so this mix can be defined as a new breed if there are distinct markings that stand out. (wishful thinking ha!)

Anyway the real purpose of what I wanted to write about has been missed. After I lost my phone in the accident and more importantly the 700 phone numbers I had in it, which were my real losses, I was able to find some old papers with some phone numbers which I had lost so that I was able to retrieve a few of the lost numbers. I then called a few to inform them of what had happened and to renew our contacts.

One of them, was a chap I have known for about 8 years, and was pretty friendly at one time, having taken him up to Polonnaruwa and traveled around Sri Lanka. He was in the travel trade, and I wanted to show him some of our hidden gems. When he answered the phone he was not his usual ebullient self but sounded subdued. I had not spoken to him in a while, the last time I bumped into him was many months ago near the lift at the WTC where I occasionally work.

He told me what had happened to him as I had no clue, and felt ashamed I had not tried to contact him earlier, though I had sent him the odd text never to get a reply. He had been in a horrific motor bike accident, near his home in Ratnapura, and riding pillion had been injured severely and was now recuperating and undergoing rehab at a specialist government hospital for spinal injuries in Ragama. He in short was paralyzed from the waist down and was learning to use his other limbs to get about, and get some semblance of life back.

This immediately jolted me in realizing how lucky I was, as I could also have had such injuries if I had been hit more severely, and the vehicle not protected me as it did. My breakage seemed small and temporary at that instant, as brain and spinal injuries leave lasting scars and damage.

I wish him well and hope to see him when he gets home, something he has not yet been able to do and not for a very long time, and it was less than two months for me to get back to my room!