Hi all, this is a write-up by my cousin Rajan Chelliah. 8th July was my Chithi, Dr Anita Chelliah’s birthday. So this post is dedicated to her. Guys n’ Gals, Presenting to you, ‘The Letter’:

There it was, a torn piece of paper, the edges jagged through the years it had endured . There had to be something special about this piece of paper I thought, for after all it did earn a place in my mother’s bible . Safely tucked inside the book of psalms, the piece of paper just sat there like an undisturbed treasure . And as any one of us would have done, I pulled this treasure out, gently piloting it out of its nook . I placed the pieces on the couch and slowly fit it together, the letter slowly unfolding part by part . I glanced at the letter with wide open eyes expecting to find something , I was not sure of what I expected to find , but there was excitement. But as I glanced at it all I could see was just a few random verses , disappointed I abandon my little adventure and diverted my attention to the fridge . A sandwich in hand a coke in the other , I would say I was pretty much ready to do absolutely nothing .

As I walked in , I was greeted by a smile which seemed to spread across the room on a face I knew well . She smiled looking at the letter pieced together, a story at the edge of her mind . She waited for me to take a seat next to her, I was still puzzled as to what the reason behind her unusually wide smile was. It was quiet. I forgot about my snack, I just waited. As she explained to me, a little boy of just 13,  about how hard it was to be a doctor who delivered babies everyday but could never have a child, I just sat there without a sound, not understanding most but listening intently to every word. Silence hits the room time and again like the passing shadows of a street light on a train. She looks at the pieces, then back at me, the smile still on her face. I still did not know why the letter was so important .

Lost in her story, she went on about how pushed to the edge, she filled all her desperation, her pain, into a letter and sent it to a preacher. This preacher was a famous one, he probably got hundreds of letters a day maybe even a thousand. He was the kind who had his own television channel. His ministry was known as “Jesus calls”. So when she found a letter in the mail from Jesus calls , she was overjoyed, as much as a childless doctor could be. She opened the letter with haste, gently piloting it out of its nook . She glanced at the letter with wide open eyes, expecting to find something, not sure what she expected to find, but there was excitement .

She began to read the letter. The letter gave the reference to the story of Samuel, how Hannah the mother of Samuel cried out to God in her time of need and God answered.” The same way God has heard your prayers and will bless you with a child “ is what the letter read. The letter continued to give a few verses, all of which pointed to the concrete fact that God had heard her cry and was always there for her.

It was a cloudless night on april 22nd 1994, the time was about 2:00 am, nothing could be found on the streets other than the intermittent dim orange glow of street lights, or so I was told. To anyone it would have just been another ordinary, eventless night, but not to the people gathered around in that tiny room in the edge of the street, in a rather insignificant nursing home. A whole family comprising of my grandfather, my grandmother, my three aunts my four uncles, my eight cousins and two people I would later learn to call amma and appa, were all huddled around this new addition .

I am not sure that I could fully grasp the feeling my amma had, when she found that God had answered her prayers. I guess only a mother could. You might ask why God would allow this sort of rejection, but God has His mysterious ways. Through this experience God became a reality to my mother and a few more. Sometimes all you need is the bigger picture to make the chaos we see into a beautiful miracle .

For two people I should have hugged more when I had the chance .

– By Rajan Chelliah

Pic below:

Be encouraged and have a fantabulous month ahead!!!