Art of Life

In the recent months I have spent a lot of time at a hospital as a visitor. And saw two sights fleetingly that will probably stayu with me forever. Here is the first:

In the emergency room of the hospital, a 2 year old child was brought in.

The mother and grandmother accompanied. The child was crying but there was no visible injury. They were assigned a bed and the child was to be laid down there. The 2yr old was understandably clingy and the mother was as distraught as the child. How do you leave your child to strangers in this hard situation?

So she just crawled into the patient bed alongside the child and held her and hugged her. The doctors understood and no one minded. And the examination proceeded. No separation – no psychological trauma. This was in Mumbai India. Where the main fuel for life is the heart. Thirty years ago I was not so lucky when I was forced to separate from my 2 year old and let her face the doctors stitching her forehead by herself. Without anaesthesia. How excruciating it must have been to be without her mother and to be put through the stitches. I cry thinking of that time even 30 years later. She is a wonderful young lady now but that memory still haunts me. Bless the little child I saw at the hospital in Mumbai and the mother who never left her baby. And bless all of the staff there who deal with life’s most difficult situations with compassion. The Art of Life is just all this. Deep love. Deep compassion. Emptying oneself into giving away love especially to our babies

❤️

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jaina mishra

aug 2026