Look Up

 

 

 

Look up, they say! Be optimistic, they say! Think positive, they also say! But what happens when this” looking up” makes you come down a cropper? Does every cloud, however dark, hide a silver lining?

Recently I was literally following this “look up” maxim to the “T”. Deciding to give in to the cajoling of the head of the house (HOH) , i.e. husband dear and darling daughter(DD), I ventured out  for a brisk evening walk with them. I had donned my walking shoes, put on my headphones, and sailed forth at an energetic pace. It was getting dark but I was determined to enjoy my walk! The HOH and DD quickly outpaced me and, bent upon enjoying my walk, I too continued, chin up, making the most of my walk, in tune with the latest music.

 One round of the rugby ground’s periphery was over and I was blithely one-fourth way of the second round when I suddenly stumbled-stars danced before my eyes, my spectacles flew  and my front teeth met the uneven gravel path with a sickening crash! I had literally come a cropper and lay splayed flat, face down, on the walkway!!

Some intuition made my DD turn back suddenly to sense something amiss. It was pretty dark by this time but some sixth sense must have made her turn around just then. She rushed to help me but I brusquely asked her not to touch me. My front teeth had borne the brunt of the fall and felt completely and strangely numb around my mouth – numbness so profound that it seemed that my teeth had been knocked out with the impact, or got fused into my nose. The sensation was horrible. All the other bruises which I may have got did not seem so important but I did want to make sure that I had not broken any bones – my knees, or my elbows.

I gingerly balanced myself on my palms and knees and held the sidewalk boundary stones to haul myself up. DD retrieved and put back my specs on my nose and immediately rang up the HOH who was striding far ahead. He came rushing back and took in the awful sight of rivulets of blood flowing down my gums and lips. By this time I was pretty sure that though my bones elsewhere were intact, all my front teeth had gone – I couldn’t feel them at all!

What was to be done at this time of 8 pm? The nearest hospital, Fortis, referred us to Max hospital which was pretty far, so my husband immediately drove us to the emergency ward of the Army hospital dental Centre. En route, DD rushed home to get my essentials plus lots of ice cubes to soothe my injury. Throughout the entire drive to the hospital the three of us looked aghast at this sudden and unexpected turn of events.

Face still numb, I placed myself in the dental patient’s chair, waiting with bated breath. What would they do? Remove all the four front teeth from a face which God had already made in somewhat of a hurry? My nose had been further flattened and the furrow between the nose and upper lip had disappeared. I was now looking like a true disciple of Shree Hanuman (by the way, it was a Tuesday too).

The doctor, (bless him), tried to shake the affected teeth to check their mobility. With bated breath, we waited for his verdict. He pronounced that there was a crack in the root of one of the incisors. The rest were okay (Yippee!) but would require a splint and a wait of six weeks when a Root Canal would be done. I’ll let you into a secret-one of my upper incisors had always jutted out slightly, giving me a Bugs Bunny look from a certain angle when I smiled. That tooth had automatically aligned with the rest to give me a perfect smile! A cosmetic procedure had been granted by circumstances, suddenly, with some pain.

My fingers are crossed, waiting for the 6 weeks period to be over so that the splints can be removed and I can dazzle the world with my perfect smile. This cloud certainly had a lovely and unexpected silver lining so I’d advise everyone to look up – you never know what good things are in store.