The Speaking Tree - with the thin short Lady yet strong and determined!!!!

'Hey Lalit, I saw an Indian restaurant on my way to the hotel.' I yelled entering in our hotel room in Toronto. 'Wow!! that's great. We will check it out for today's lunch.' he said. We refreshed ourselves and left for lunch. “Buffet for $10, Take out for $ 7”!!!! was the advertisement outside the 'Speaking tree-Indian Restaurant'. We entered the Restaurant. There came a lady thin & short, she greeted us. She took us to the buffet, there was a big queue. We got our way to the delicacies. There was everything from paneer recipes to different salads, kulchas, rottis, parathas, rice, biryani, spicy indian pickles, papads, desserts. Being a vegetarian, I was just happy to relish them..!! Lalit too was admiring his chicken tikka masala.....!!!! We then started arguing as I wanted to have food in the restaurant, but he wanted to have a takeout as the restaurant was too crowded. (Never mind it saved some money too heee!!!!)

Having the food in our hotel room, we were so impressed by the food that now we unanimously decided to visit the Speaking tree again. After a couple of days, it was our time to leave Toronto, we took our baggage and decided to have our lunch at the Speaking tree, before going to the airport. This time, when we entered the lobby, the lady thin & short again greeted us. She said,' I remember you, a couple of days back you visited us so did you like the food?' I thanked her and said, 'The food was delicious. Why is your restaurant so empty today?' She said, it’s the weekend, the other days lots of people from downtown offices come for lunch.'

We then took our lunch and made us comfortable at the place near the glass window. She then brought for us hot, freshly prepared kulchas. Wow...!!!! it was a great time again. I looked at her and asked, 'Are your chefs from India?' She replied,' Ya, of course we hired them from India, so we can serve the authentic food here. From which part of India are both of you?' We said, 'Maharashtra, so we speak Marathi.' I asked her, ‘What's your mother tongue?' She answered, 'We are Tamil. I came here two decades ago after my marriage. My husband tried different business, now since a couple of years we are having this restaurant business in a partnership. With God's grace it’s going well.'

I told her, 'Your restaurant is in good location too, so this might be helping you.' She said ,'We pay a lot for renting this place, so I am all the time here to take care of things personally, as my husband is busy with lot of other things.' I saw just outside the window and said, 'What a huge Children's hospital is right across the street, I am amazed. 'She glanced and said, 'I just remember the bad days in my life when I look there. 'I was surprised. She added, 'I have three kids, my third baby girl who is 7 years now, was diagnosed of Acute Myeloid Leukemia, when she was one year old. I used to sit all the time in the hospital waiting for doctors, once they come then admitting my baby, they would pierce her hands and legs collect blood, and the process would go on..... Her condition was becoming worse, and we were running out of money, the one thing which is good here, is that the government spends for the health benefits, but it too has some limitations. My girl needed a bone marrow transplant and we had no money for it.'

I just wondered looking at her, ' How did you manage dear?' She looked at me, smiled and said, 'Then the hospital included her in a special health care plan, but now the doctors here were so detached, we used to ask them what are they actually doing with the treatment. No one used to answer us, I guess they were experimenting with her, but we had no option, we could neither take her home without treatment nor we could see her being a guinea pig in the hospital, I was just a crazy mom, I forgot everything… my other two kids, my home, my cooking nothing was worth in my life, I became an internet bug and studied each and everything about childhood leukemia... I gained some confidence with knowledge, later the doctors told us about the scheduled bone marrow transplant day..!! And till today my girl survives on this treatment....... It’s just a miracle for me.'

We both were short of words seeing her courage and strong will power. We exchanged warm greetings and left the restaurant. Then I looked at the Children's hospital again, my perspective was changed, my thoughts were more intense, my mind was more worried of the countless children and their families playing a tug of war with destiny, the one with the stronger fate wins. Sometimes we think we are so powerful, I realize that it’s just an illusion!!!!