COMA

 COMA

What if you opened your eyes one day?

And saw everyone looking down at you and smiling 

Parents, relatives, and friends. 

Tears of joy flowed down their cheeks 

Some looked shocked and dazed 

Others talking animatedly

Many whispering and giggling.

Your fragile eyelids flicker in weakness and disbelief

You lie bewildered and perplexed

 trying to comprehend the total disorientation 

The strange scene unfolding 

Before your bleary eyes.

People rush in and out of the room

Which you recognize vaguely.

You seem to be drifting on a calm sea

Or is it a fluffy cloud 

Of a strange consciousness?

But every time you open your eyes

Things look clearer. 

A medical practitioner saunters into the room

A nurse scurries in behind  

You don’t seem to recognize them    

He is beaming and calling you by your name 

You realize now that YOU are 

The center of attention.

You have questions galore 

But sleep calls some more and you doze off

Time lapses 

A few more days of this drowsy slumber?

You have no clue whatsoever

Of time- place- day  

Your eyes open clearer than before

But precise body movements are sporadic

And at times your head throbs

As if your brain is about to spill. 

You venture to ask a few probing questions 

But you mumble incoherently 

When? How? Why? Where?

People tell you to stay calm

That all is well

That the worst is over. 

The worst?

At last, you smile a timid smile

You sense a perceptible change 

As realization starts to dawn

And the fog begins to lift.

White walls, Tubes, monitors, machines beeping

Why do the few people around you look so much older? 

Palpitations worry you and you clutch at your chest

As people scuttle around.

More whispers and smiles aplenty

 You begin to feel stronger by the day  

They finally say you have been in a coma

It’s been ten years – give or take a few weeks

Strangely you felt no pain and no sadness consumed you.

 And while you slept a long sleep………….

The world continued to turn on its axis.

Wars were fought and thousands were killed 

Royals got married and people rejoiced 

There were natural calamities & pandemics  

That shook the very core of the universe. 

Glaciers melted, and the green cover was lost 

Drought, storms, earthquakes and floods caused havoc

The world over 

Terrorism raised its ugly head ever so often

While crazy lunatics shot people at random

In so-called developed countries. 

Planes mysteriously went missing 

People took to some strange pastime

Called the ‘ice bucket challenge 

And ‘Gangam style’ was the song of the decade.

Mandela, Malala and Trump 

Were the most googled names. 

Economies rose and fell

Something called ‘Brexit’ troubled Britain

And a movement named ‘Me too’ 

Got perverted men in hot water 

Creating headlines far and wide.

The Epstein and Weinstein scandals 

And Prince Andrew’s escapades 

became sensational stories.

 

You had blacked out,

 you had slumbered 

In a stupor – in a trance

No one knew the how and the why 

But now 

After years of nothingness 

Things begin to feel different

You have finally made your way 

Through the dark ominous tunnel

And every beam of sunlight 

Now spells hope.