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Monday, December 07, 2009

Tie 2 …

1 and a 1/2 month later:




OK. So now I am well enough and I thought I'd start writing.

Once a week, though. At least until something really industrious comes along.

To start with, lemme go back to the 24th of October.

The topic: Blasphemy Ordinance - Do We Want Them Removed
6.20: About 10 mins to go
So, there I was.
Nuzhat and Sabeen.
A couple of oddball friends and relatives.
… but then people gathered up and the hall, around an hour or so later, was filling up. Soon, there were enough in the hallway to make sure it was full.

Everyone spoke well … including even the poor 'office' girl. But the delight of the evening was dear old Bhagwandas. Naasikh and Meer and tons more … Yayyyy!

General discussion ended with the consensus that no way does it seem likely to be done away with ... but ... a lot of its integrity can be resolved.

Hmmm ...

=====

So, around 9+, Nuzhat, Sabeen, and I moved on to our house, ready to change (Sabeen still making up her mind, though) and we decided to have dinner.

Dinner done, I walked up to my room where Sabizak's little note asked when I'd be around. "In a while", I said. Then moved to the bedroom when I 'felt' a little chakkar and decided to lie down. That's when I felt a little more. So I decided to stand up and stay the other way …

… and suddenly I realized I was 'ON'!

In the next few moments I was not quite as conscious - well, kinda - so the events that took place are a bit transfused, but Shamim (the surgeon who lives opposite), Sabeen (who'd phoned up to say she was ready to go and was told to come over with an ambulance), the surgeon's wife, an antihistamine ( Old? Maybe! Let's try it! … No, it didn't do anything!!! ), Sabeen's arrival (still trying to get an ambulance), my insistence that I want to go to NICVD as fast as possible (at Aga Khan I'd probably die crawling under a stampede) … all this was lost somewhere around my constant feeling that I wanted to go to the bathroom.

Shamim had checked out his BP instrument and, as usual, seemed pretty sure that I was not likely to last - something that a pair of good earphones will put right for him. He also felt that my pulse was nearly 'zero' but kept on looking at me and saying 'Forty haé ...'.

But he was ready to stop me from going over to the loo. Nuz, too, had wanted to stop me … but, finally, she forced Shamim and [together] they drove me to the WC.

Lasted 2 mins!!! I was out, cold.

Lying on the floor, I was dragged back to the place near the bed.

Dunno if the closure lasted 2 mins or 5 ... who knows. But there I was … ready, willing, and able! Up again, with my ageless rhythm, it had to be the loo. So, there I was, dragging my feet all across the floor. Twenty feet to the WC, angry, angst, wanting to go, and there I now was. Nuzhat had finally decided to let me go on. On the floor to the commode I suddenly discovered I had enough strength to drag myself and get around to sit. [There was 'much' to be done. Loads of shit. Amples of clearance. Much water. But still …]

The trip to the loo was wonderful. I got up and, partly stretched across Nuzhat's body, I went all the way back to the bed and lay down upon it. On the way I only thought 3 times, in very quick succession, that Ragni should be here to see me go. Or stay. But I do need her.

And then I went back upon the bed and snored.

Down the stairway, down into the parking lot, up into the ambulance … all these passages seemed little until we went up into the hallway where a hundred doctors, patients, nurses, attendants, all created a noise. I reopened my eyes once and was told that the efforts were good. I was very likely going to survive.

(Oh, I did see a rather 'cute nurse' ... but, later, much much later, it turned out to be my friend Insiya.)

Just a few moments, as soon as I was taken into my CMU, I told Nuzhat that we had to call Ragni otherwise she is likely to see this on the net. People were told to stay off the net (including one gentleman who also said that on the net!).

Soon I heard Ragni's voice and was glad …

That was my day!

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14 Comments:

Blogger sabizak said...

Exciting, to say the least.

Love your personal posts.

07 December, 2009 19:03

 
Blogger jehan said...

Gosh Zak even when you are talking about a near-death experience you make it sound so exciting. I shivered as I read the account that I have heard so many times from Doc Shamim, Nuz and Sabeen. It has been a rough ride for you, for Nuz, for Rags and for all of us who love you so much but it is great indeed to have you back.

You're blogging, you are arguing, you are teasing and smiling. I don't know how we have all managed these weeks without you. Welcome back and please NEVER NEVER give us a scare like this again.

07 December, 2009 19:26

 
Blogger Bolshevik said...

*hugs*

07 December, 2009 22:17

 
Anonymous s said...

my father had his near-death experience about a decade ago, in similar circumstances. for years i have wondered what he was thinking, what people think- or don't think- while it's happening, but being the silent type he has never bothered to fill in the blanks. thanks for this. its deft lightness allows a daughter to revisit a dark time without being overwhelmed.

07 December, 2009 22:52

 
Anonymous Imran Hussain said...

Nice to see you back ZAK.

Death is certain
We are mortals
Life is fleeting
Like the springtime flowers
But the human spirit
Is resolute and immortal
Our ideas and thoughts
Are enduring and eternal

08 December, 2009 00:49

 
Blogger Ali Kazim Gardezi said...

Hi ZAK. I'm soooo glad to see you back online. I prayed for your health although I don't really pray much :)

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about death (my grandfather passed away recently) and I think it's about time we must conquer this 'biggest of all illness'. I would love to see a medicine which fix it. Ray Kurzweil's Transcend is a step in this direction. Although I didn't get a chance to read it, but its on my list, with dozens of other books :P

Please keep well!!!

08 December, 2009 01:27

 
Anonymous Maleeha Azeem said...

I don't know how you manage this, but you make everything seem lighter, humorous, somehow 'fun'. It so was NOT fun!

Your mind
Is one of a kind

!!!
:)
So good to have you blogging again! My favorite blog is back on, things make sense again.

08 December, 2009 07:58

 
Blogger Vic said...

@Zak
tg you're back
(You were away
Too many a day)
We'll take heart
With your new start
For it was a shock
But then http://bit.ly/66gAoc
Is the last word
Someone else heard

08 December, 2009 10:38

 
Blogger Atif Khan said...

Glad to have you back... Keep blogging.

13 December, 2009 22:07

 
Blogger Sidhusaaheb said...

Welcome back!

I'm glad about the fact that the Almighty has allowed you to be here with us in the mortal world and hope that you live to be at least a hundred years old and continue to blog till then.

:)

14 December, 2009 00:32

 
Anonymous shehzad said...

good to have you back! alot of people im sure, just like me, follow your blog silently.

most often its cause im nodding my head while reading.

your honesty (and wit) in saying things most dont have the courage to say even anonymously.

14 December, 2009 18:56

 
Blogger Sahar Rizvi said...

Oh goodness Zak Bhai, you make this sound almost exciting!

Love you to bits, live long and proper always!

Loads of love,
Sahar

15 December, 2009 11:06

 
Anonymous Doc.shamim said...

In forty years of my professional life I have never felt so helpless as the night you had the attack. I have dealt with many critical cases (Gun Shot, Stab, accidents) … but all these in hospitals.

That night Nuzhat called while I was getting ready to go to qauwali, I rushed to your house, with my BP appratus and stetho, found u in your bed complaining of chest pain. My examination revealed no pulse, no BP, u were cold and clammy. Not good signs. I had no means to tackle the situation at home. Asked my wife to look for some emergency medications at home, phoned Sabeen to get some.

While I was insisting to keep you lieing down with your foot end raised, your insistance to go to the toilet made me nervous. With Nuzhat's help and against all medical advice we took you towards the bathroom. As expected, you collapsed on your way.

I really wonder how you managed to go to the toilet even after that.

Next thing was to take you to hospital without wasting the precious time any further. Getting the ambulance was another hurdle. None of us knew their contact number ... but Shahla (my wife) knew all the emergency numbers by heart.

You were shifted to the NICVD, and you arrived at NICVD just in time to start the emergency treatment. The whole episode was no less than a miracle.

Well, Zaheer Bhai, it is great to see you back and have our coffee discussions on various subjects. I know you will have some valid argument about the whole episode but to me it was no less than a miracle.

You have made it through your positive attitude to life and taking every thing so positively and lightly. I am so glad to have your company so often and be your closest neighbour. I am lucky to have a close friend and a coffee partner in you. Welcome back to normal routine.

20 December, 2009 08:45

 
Blogger terriblelie said...

captain zaheer???
this is your next door neighbor ruby
the chief engineers' kid, in north nazimabad for 20 years remember???
is that your picture? i hope you are ok now
you're bajiya's son right?
i remember your mother perfectly
voice, gharara and everything
i borrowed a book on lenny bruce from you once and it shaped my twisted sense of humor because i never gave the book back!!!
you had a big fat cat called lenny who fought with my cat every night....
i'm a psychiatrist in los angeles with my own practice
write please!!!!
hi to nuzhat apa and congratulations on your daughters' marriage :)))
i still remember the peacocks and deer that jumped into our garden at all times :)))

27 February, 2010 14:15

 

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