Wanderer

 

Nobody said life was easy, but some lives are easier than others… I would ruminate quite often when I feel the tug and pull of my carrier shifting and scattering the one life I got on this earth.

I had to brave the mountain ranges, rivers, climate zones, war torn regions and even oceans in the pursuit of my job and never knew where I would find myself in the next year or the year after. Although at times I earnestly hoped for it to slow down, it never changed pace since I started off as a young energetic doctor at the ministry of health Sri Lanka, or gained seniority with passing years.

One would invariably feel the uncertainity and fleeting nature of the life-style we needed to get used to, as the healers on the go, serving in areas that some of our own kith and kin found quite uninhabitable. The moment I got too comfortable in one place and started becoming a part (grafted, ofcourse) I would get my summons for the next move. The next week I find myself driving behind a rickety lorry carrying my measly belongings to the next place of service, sometimes across the country ! I drive with a heavy heart, through the roads that I was getting familiar with and sometimes a couple of tears rolling down the cheeks, having had to say a hasty goodbye to my adopted land and brothers and sisters from another mother.

Having passed a decade on the move, instead of exhaustion, I have this strange new realisation that I did not even remotely expect to feel, a feeling of being blessed with a great opportunity and potential that was unique. The opportunity to serve those who would benefit most from my expertise and to savour life in its thousand and one different flavours. The treasures that linger with me are the fond moments I shared with people of different walks of life and instances of human connection that traversed the barriers of culture, language and age old racial conflicts. And I am not even half way though my journey !

For us healers, the most valuable earnings always come as intangible assets of gratitude expressed in the earnest smile of a person we helped, while holding back our own tears…