The First Breath

                                    

 Breathing is integral to our being. We inhale and exhale countless times without even  being aware. It is when it’s difficult to breath that we think about it. Being a doctor I know the physiological , biochemical and pathological intricacies of gaseous exchange ... functioning of the lungs and various respiratory diseases. However that is not where I want to go.

The words “Inspiration” and “expiration” are related to breathing  and have such deep meaning of life and death. Still this is not what I want to talk about. It is the first one of all the countless inspirations and expirations that fascinates me. The beautiful effort that first breath  demands . The significant first achievement of a nascent human being.

This phenomenon is intricately related to my everyday work.  I see them being born and I worry over there breathing and finally find solace when I can certify “cried immediately after birth”. Medical science has explanation regarding surface tension of air sacs (alveoli), about the origin of the substance called surfactant and a lot of things that makes it’s pretty explainable through physiological and biochemical aspects. All that however has failed to bring out the beauty of that first valiant effort and why it makes the newborn cry?

A little eccentric as I am ... I mused over it and tried to give it my own explanation... a little magical.. a little philosophical... and a little heart warming and enlightening.. I like to bask in that thought and I love the way it sounds ...

I nested that thought for a couple of years but I feel like sharing now...in the form of poetry...

A union of halves had occured

A brief journey had found its roots

Then a holy heart had suddenly flickered

Gradually  a consciousness emerged

In a sea of knowledge it  immersed..

It had sounds of the past ,present ,and future

A deep understanding of life and distant visions

The true understanding of the supreme creator

The serene sanct fluid totally soaked the creature

The maternal loving abode grew and nourished

The consciousness moved and kicked with vigour

The knowledge was still there dreaming unblemished

But it was time for another journey to trigger....

It was a sudden rush of pain and alarming contraction

The abode threatening to push the conciousness away

It was time and there was no escape no retraction

And suddenly the sea of knowledge gushed out of the window

The little being  felt the first touch of cold air

Suddenly abandoned by  the caring sea of enlightenment

The final bits threatening to gush out of its swelling chest

It could hold no more it was it’s final quest...

And a herculean effort pushed the fluid away

And the lungs were filled up with worldly air

And the newborn cried to it’s dismay...

Cos it was nascent again by the loss of wisdom

And it was the beginning of another journey .

 

Thus my crazy thought it’s the loss of the collective wisdom of the universe dissolved in the liquor surrounding a the growing fetus in the womb and its replacement by the worldly air of ignorance ; that makes the first cry. The deep awareness of the loss of all knowledge and beginning of a lifetime to gain it back.