A Blessed Soul

This article is a recount of an endearing personal experience. I'm not sure that this article will attract the readers or not but in either case I've a request to make. This experience has raised some queries within my mind but have not yet received any particular answer. Though I'm dying to get a specific reply, I must also admit that the experience was so touching that an answer or no answer will not demean its value.

ThePlan lead to an Experience

One day a dear friend of mine requested me to stay with her at night. Her mother was away to another city where her maternal grandpa was critically ill. My friend was in deep stress as she was extremely fond of her grandpa. Though uncle, my friend’s father, was present, she wanted me to be beside her. Well, all for a friend and so I readily agreed.

Grandpa was my friend’s role model. He was a disciplinarian, honest, hard working and above all very generous. I had never met him but often heard a lot about him. Somehow it so happened that I developed a fondness for grandpa. Maybe that’s why in the back of my mind, I started to nurture a desire to meet him. Unfortunately, it seemed to be a distant dream as he stayed in another city. Still, I hoped against hope but due to his severe illness my dream looked to be shattered.

According to the plan, I stayed with my friend. Next day, early morning I returned home. Gradually, few days passed by. One day as I came back home my friend gave me a call. She sounded extremely grim. Her voice was getting choked. She simply managed to murmur: “grandpa is no more”, and disconnected the call.

Immediately, I rushed back to her house. It was a strange and remorse situation. My friend was inconsolable and uncle was bereaved too. There was a vacuum within me but still, I controlled my emotions and asked them one question: When did grandpa breathe his last?

Within a flash of a moment a picture struck me when they replied to my question which left me puzzled. I sat there dumbstruck. I felt jerk in my whole body and my limbs went numb. While my friend was deeply distressed still she noticed me. Suddenly, she broke the silence and inquired about my discomfort. I pacified myself a bit and recollected my whole experience of the previous night that was the same night when grandpa had died.

I was terribly confused but still shared the experience I had a night ago. That night I was deep asleep when I felt a touch of an aged and ailing hand which was caressing me. It seemed as if it was blessing me too by constantly touching my head. Suddenly, I woke up. My heart was throbbing and I felt disturbed then I wondered what to do. Later, I looked at my friend who was sleeping quietly. Thereafter, I got down from the bed and peeped into uncle’s room where he was snoring. Then and there I glanced at the clock and it was 4.30 am. I failed to sleep after that and endlessly searched an answer to the question: whose touch was that? And then, I paused for a while.

I tried to compose myself a little more and restarted. I told them that the time of the grandpa’s death literally puzzled me as it coincided with the exact time of my last night’s touching experience. Lastly, I quizzed myself at first and then put up the question to them in a confused state of mind: Who touched me last night? Was that a blessing from grandpa?

Soul Searching Journey

My friend and her father got perplexed and looked at me in astonishment. After some time, uncle drew a conclusion with great conviction. He was certain that it was a blessing from the grandpa for his own granddaughter. He was of the opinion that it was mistakenly showered upon me as I was sharing my friend's bed with her.

I felt uncomfortable and left their house. Unending questions constantly poked my mind and baffled me completely. My father noticed my bewilderment which was absolutely visible on my face. He asked me and I elaborately explained him everything. My father, a very quiet man, gave me a patient hearing and quite strongly opined: “a departed soul can never commit such a type of mistake”.

Ultimate Conclusion

Though it occurred long back, the thought usually invades my mind and leaves me in dilemma. Only one question had bothered me prior to the discussion I had with my friend’s father and my father but after that another question bothered me and my worry got multiplied in manifolds. My question still remains unanswered and in addition to it I also don't know whose father’s assumption was correct.

The whole incident occurred when I was in my mid twenties, but now, after reaching the twice of that age I feel somehow a bit different. It’s not that I'm no more interested in knowing the answers but obviously not keen to make a fuss or allow any kind of scrutiny over it. Only one view has engulfed my mind and heart. Now, I prefer to consider the incident as grandpa’s blessing for me. I want to cherish the experience and bask in it. I really consider that it was a soul stirring journey. Till date, I feel so blessed.

Once my father told me about a true incident which occurred in his friend's life. While I was reading this article I got reminded of an incident that was narrated by my father. My soul got touched by the striking similarity between my experience and that what my father's friend experienced some sixty-five/seventy years ago.

One day my father's friend boarded a train to his village where his mother was very seriously ill. At night all the passengers including him were fast asleep. Suddenly, he woke up and felt perplexed because he felt the touch of his mother's hand as well as heard her voice calling out his name. He looked around and saw others asleep. He then felt very thirsty and he reached for his bottle to drink some water only to find it to be empty. He looked out of the window and saw that the train was stationed at a platform. Hurriedly, he got down on the platform to fill drinking water in his bottle without noticing the time. As he was engrossed in filling his bottle the train whistled away. When he realized the train had already left the station.

He had nothing to do other than wait for the next train. After an hour he overheard the words of some railway personnel and got shocked. He then felt that his mother had saved him. The train which he missed met with a fatal accident living many as dead and some seriously injured. Later, when he managed to reach his village another shock he received, his mother had already passed away. It happened exactly at that time when he woke up while he was sleeping in the train after feeling his mother's touch and heard her calling him.

Isn't the whole incident quite similar to the experience of mine? So, it happens. Nothing unusual I have experienced but yes, not a very common thing to happen in our day to day life. It happens very rarely. If the mother had saved her son's life and blessed him then it is nothing wrong for me to accept that I was blessed by grandpa. It's because he knew I was keen to meet him while I was also informed by my friend and her family that grandpa wished to meet me. I personally feel blessed.