S13: The “4G’s Life-PACT” Story:  Insightful & ImPACTful.

A WriteShare about How life’s paths have sudden turns & how we navigate through the thunderstorms and spiritually are fighting our battles at all 3 levels of Individual, Family & Community.

This is a post dedicated to my Gs-family: Intent is to reflect & rejuvenate the family & relational roots.

(Started this post arnd 15th August 2020 @Home during Covid19 Lockdowns)

“Honor your father and your mother, that you may live a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving to you.” Exodus 20:12(Bible)

“Matha Pitha Guru Deivam” in an Indian verse(Tamizh-Oral Traditions) Philosophy-Culture is the Priority sequence of devotion given by a person. Respect and devotion towards their Mother, Father is first (I GRP have named the TwinSoul entity as “MaPa” I.e Amma(Mother)-Appa(Father) I try to not treat them seperately but as twin souls, next on the list is a teacher and later comes God. This is the root belief and core value of an Indian/Bharatiya/Hindustani culture that me, my family & our community are imbibed with in South India.

Continuing writing from Time:(13/9/20_16:00), Space:(@Manipal Hospital ward in Bengaluru,India), Situation: (Father and mother (2/3 members of our home) are admitted in ICU symptoms of CoVid-19 simultaneously when Bengaluru our city is being unlocked from National Lockdown) Roles: Attending son to my elderly & Ill parents, ShareCareing Members of our communities,

Here I Chronicle the 4-5 day Roller coaster ride my family is having right now(Sep9-Sep13(Sun)) so that any one reading this article deeply can have the insider’s view of the familial hurdles, hurts & healings we experienced which maybe helpful in some ways for their own insights and life improvements.

In my school I read & was inspired by Anne Frank’s Diary and I am trying to create a journal as “Anna Frank”

(Anna in multiple South Indian languages means Brother, I aim to be a frank(open) brother). I have 2 core beliefs in writing this post here:

1. My(GRP) Life’s Philosophy  for the question what is Life?  My Ans: Life is LIFES (Learning Insights From Experiences & Sharing).

2. Standing for Truth & Transparency are core Twin-values for Trustability(Quality) & TrustWorthiness(Quantity). Ideals I’m striving hard to achieve.

What is the 4G Family?

4G most popularly stands for 4th Generation of cellular network technology also coincidentally the same network by which this post was created. And 4G in context to the post is the initial letter of names of the 4 family members. The Fathers name is Gajendran(IndianMeaning:King of Elephant), Mother is Gowri(IndMng:The fair Goddess parvathi) & Son is Guru Prasad(IndMng: Grace of the Guru -Teacher).

Why a Family PACT?

Our 4GFamily was formed in 1983(37years ago) and like any family we have faced the sun, rain and storms of life. Just that the variety and intensity of the challenges have been on a wide range. We have come to a very retrospective and introspective phase after prosperous and also highly destructive phases which reduced the members count and strength dramatically. We 4 discussed together on this and created a family pact(Agreement-Covenant) nearing the Indian Independence Day 15th Aug 2020. The Photo of the Covenant with signatures is below. Many may question why this formality for a casual family life, I believe there are intangible values and ethos in each of our family culture which when made tangible and evident can help in improving the qualities of the family. That is the intention behind the family pact. We may have heard in the negative media about ‘Suicide Pacts’ this created here is a polar opposite concept of ‘The Life Pact‘.

When we were discussing we found many coincidences..Actually the name of the son also starting with G was not decided by FatherG nor the motherG but by a Grandparent while registering the birth certificate. So it’s pure Gestiny that brought the Gs together.

In our Giscussions we Giscovered there is a strong member in our home as family who has been very helpful and committed to our family welfare. It was an enlightening recognition the central family member is/was/Always will be God, Hse is the first core member of the 4G Family group.

What is the PACT the four core values we stand for as a family?

we came up with the 4 Top values each of our family members shall give unconditionally to eachother. Its acronym is P.A.C.T.(Protect, Attend, Care & Trust). Its these 4 pillars on which our family vision stands.

1. Protection: We will strive to protect each family member from any external and internal harm (Physical, Mental, Emotional, Spiritual or Social). It is our duty to protect each other and create a safe and protected home environment. Using this principle intentionally we resolved a 5 year old problem of sleep very easily & quickly.

2. Attention: We will attend to each dearone with full attention at any given time as family is the first strong foundation on which we can build anything/everything else. We started Family Time prayers and Family yoga sessions.

3. Care-Compassion: We will treat each one in family consistently with compassion or anukampa. Loving kindness is at the heart of a family. We began expressing our deeper feelings to each other. Compassion comes before other passions.

4. Trust: We pledged to trust eachother at all times. We had not being trusting eachothers gut instincts and had consequently suffered drawbacks due to not having enough trust building measures for the Family-Community connect.

We discussed for further concepts like love, respect, care etc and were satisfied that at the root of other values are these 4G Values. This is the Life PACT the 4G Family adopted for the 4G Family vision of Healthy Bodies, Happy Minds & Harmonious souls.

Sharelock Says: Connecting dots between the 4G Family (Photo, the PACT and the Current Impact): As seen in the photo we are the 4GFamily (R-L: God in form of lord Shri.Ganesha, Dr.Gowri, Dr.Gajendran, and Ar.Guru Prasad.

In the pact the 2nd point is attention and were giving medical attention to the pain points of FatherG he developed symptoms of spondylitis since a year and was wearing cervical collar for supporting his discomfort. We had consulted 2 Orthopedicians and were advised tablets and surgery as we assumed it’s due to old age weakness, but the pain and giddiness would reoccur often. We took these issues seriously and tried to find alternatives where we asked and seeked for information and connections we normally would not have tried if not for the PACT.

We found a revelation about the root cause of his condition through a sports medicine practitioner(Dr.Kannan the Barsbarian) , the clue which none of us had perceived or identified was that DadG has a postural habit of tilting his head towards his right since many years-decades(Refer the GFamily Photo Fig1). This wrong posture has caused a strain and imbalance in his neck due to which he had developed the spondylitis also my mother due to an injury had developed knee stiffness suffering terrible pain. Thus the PACT worked and lil bit of attention to pain points in the family helped us to heal. Results were so very inspiring that SonG joined  the Health and fitness Instructor program by the same Institute(SPARCC) which helped DadG recover from Spondylitis, MomG from Arthritis & SonG from Parental Sufferitis:)

Coming to the current situation of both DadG and MomG due to the environmental conditions around home. All was normal until Tuesday evening the day prior to Sep10 world suicide awareness day. On Sep9 the family had gone out for a family evening walk, on returning home DadG complained of tiredness and exhaustion. His body got warm, he became a hot male(:)). He developed high fever around 101degree he was given tablet and injection for it. On Sep10 he was isolated in another room and given vapor inhalation with cold packs. He still had fever on and off. He was cared for in the temporarily created sick room at home.

The next day on 11th the fever subsided and there was a relief. While having lunch he started symptoms of running nose he had a disturbed lunch at the dining table. The other members observed his heavy breathing. Post lunch he had shortness of breathing and difficulty in speaking. We took a oxygen saturation reading using the Samsung note and saw it dropped to 85% (90+% is normal)

This set the alarms ringing we called the ambulance and rushed to the Hospital emergency immediately. There was a challenge awaiting us at manipal hospital as the beds were full due to the Covid pandemic and we were taken to the Respiratory emergency ward. We 3 were exposed to the risk of cross infection at the emergency, we braved it out eventually we dint have a bed to get DadG admitted and were directed to Axxon hospital, we called about 5 contacts my parents had as medical practitioners and got through by Gods grace to a resourceful person and finally found a bed at Manipal itself. And Covid rapid test was negative while the swabs test was sent for testing results would be available the next day. Untill then we would be treated as Corona suspects.

When one challenge we won another started as MomG began to show signs of fever and exhaustion. It was like a scene from film Contagion. It was a panicky and uncertain situation. While DadG was admitted to a ward in fifth floor, MomG was treated at the emergency ward in the Ground floor. And at midnight was discharged after her condition improved still she could not walk. The SonG got her a wheel chair and pushed her to the DadGs ward where DadG was rapidly breathing even though on Oxygen, he started to complain of heart ache. He was in terrible distress. He was shifted to the CCU(Cardiac Care Unit).

The 4Gs extend family relatives and friends about(40+ texted and many more reached out) prayed for the welfare of the 4GFamily and answers came on Sep 12th in the form of the test result which was Covid-negative and all of us were jubilant and grateful to God and thankful to the relatives, friends & well-wishers support and concerned prayers.

On Day 3 of the ordeal MomG again developed high fever, joint pains and was immobile. Trying for admission in ward was futile due to hospital being full. We shifted her to another hospital and there too she was taken to the ICU. At this moment was the peak of the crisis. 2 of the members in ICU and the 3rd also was feeling feverish. Covid was a still a concern and it was a question of covid false negative. As there wasnt any clarity of the cause of the issue and situation was escalating simultaneously for both of the family members. It was a serious prayer and with a heavy heart that the SonG entered the house and straight went to the central member’s altar and prayed for the members health. The night was uncertain where the family is headed to, we got a lot of assuring calls of prayers and wishes at this moment. This kept us going this was the result of the Family PACT. Now we are in a better situation DadG is shifted to ward from ICU today and in a stable condition where the dark clouds of uncertainty are seeming to clear to bright blue sky.. our family is greatly indebted to the guidance and relentless prayers of our dearones.. We live because of Gods,your blessings and showing the PACT in Action for our family. I Am ever grateful to this blunderful yet beautifully wonderful journey from a dysfunctional to an organised PACTed family.

Random PACTs of Kindness – A Floem

I searched and researched for the secrets of success,

To make money, name, fame and property in excess,

My family strove hard for reaching higher levels of living,

At most times we drove in a race ignoring the hurting,

We created a life pact for our family after long sufferings,

Prayers & Blessings, the goal of our family is God’s offerings.

-By GRP (Grit, Responsibility & Purpose)