A Farmer’s Legacy
Image source: Unsplash
by Namrata Kantamneni
They say that when a farmer steps into your clinic of his own volition,
It is no ordinary visit—
It is an emergency.
For these are the most resilient of men in society,
Toiling long and hard hours in the fields,
Stoically dismissing away pain and fatigue.
When I see such a patient,
I am reminded of my grandfather.
A man who farmed the land his entire life,
Who had the utmost respect for his profession,
Who treated the Earth with the dignity she deserves,
Who cared deeply for each individual in the village.
A man I’ve never met,
But whose legacy courses through my veins,
In my own stubborn psyche.
He died suddenly in his thirties,
Leaving behind his five older sisters,
As well as a young wife and teenage son.
His passing was sudden—
A brain hemorrhage,
Triggered most likely by underlying hypertension.
The sort of terrible headache you read about in textbooks,
A headache so bad,
That you vomit from the pain.
But for a farmer,
It is simply another headache.
Nothing a little painkiller can’t fix.
When I see such a patient,
I see my grandfather.
Transcending ethnicity and culture,
I see that same person,
With the same work ethic,
With the same stubbornness and dedication and willpower,
With the same tender love for everyone in his life,
With the same respect for Mother Earth.
When I see such a patient,
I’m not straddling between India and America,
Pondering differences between the two,
Confused by a false dichotomy.
Instead, I see the divine spirit present in my fellow human,
Oneness transcending culture into universality,
Binding all of humanity together.
A reminder,
That we are all the same in God’s eyes.
Namrata Kantamneni is a third-year medical student at the UTCOMLS
