Birth of a Miracle - I : The Prelude

Not all miracles are events.

Some are born!

1964 - 1968

Location: Southern Tamilnadu, India

Those were the days when  laborers (all men) from the borders of Kerala came to our village in summer and work here to earn their living for 5 - 6 months, and migrated back. The exterior of our village was filled with palm trees. And the only job known to the people was making jaggary out of the juice tapped from the trees. The people of the village lived on little savings from the 5 - 6 months of earning during the summer when palm juice tapping was, and then fell on moneylenders and middlemen for the rest of the year, leading to a chain of poverty and woes. There was no doctor in the village. Several women were able mid-wifes, one of them was a beautiful lady, fondly called in the village - Rose or Rosammal.

Her husband, Mr. Rathna was into tapping palm juice, managing the workers and also was buying the jaggary (in Tamil language, karupatti), and would sell it off in Madurai, the big market. He also had salt business, as their home was hardly about 4 km from some of the large salt pans where saltwater from sea was cultivated, and pure white salt crystals were produced. He would buy them and send them to Madurai and few other cities by truck. I have heard that they had four warehouses (made of palm leaves - and so must be of about 4,000 sq.ft in all) where the jaggary used to be stored. The family was on top of business, and earning. Mr. Rathna (often known as TSR in the village with his initials of T and S) was also a very respected man for many reasons. One, he was a teetotaler in a village where most men were addicted to liquor. Even those who earned more, wasted more in it, and so, ended up poor each year. Second, he was known for his sense of judgement - any social dispute, at times even those that were in courts would come to him, and he would discuss with the parties in conflict, and help them resolve it; after all, there were more than one case every month in a village where drunken men and poor laborers roamed free. People from neighboring village sought his counsel and took him to their villages to solve disputes. Thirdly, his commitment to the Church as the village was a 100% Catholic one, and there were two churches. Mr. TSR was in several committees, contributed generously. The parish church was unfinished at that time, and the other was attached to a large charity institute that ran in the name of St. Joseph. Further, he was also part of a drama troupe, and would write script, and sang songs. Of speaking of his songs, people would stand anywhere to listen to his songs. (Until his death, he brought first prize in the village level competition that was annually held. But he never brought the prize; he would give it to the priest to be given to a poor family, or would give it to a poor family by himself.) His singing of songs from the top of palm trees at night, and people cycling or walking on the nearby road stopping to listen to his melodious songs was part of the folklore of the village.

The family of three children and the parents, was awaiting a turning point. After eight years of the last son, Rose miscarried in 1964, while the baby was 8 months in her womb. The pain was a lot for the family that valued life so much. One early morning in the Spring of 1968 (after 12 years after the last baby was born), she announced that she is carrying another baby. As they were planning to go to meet the doctor in few days, she had a dream. In the dream Rose saw a lady, beautifully dressed in white, gifting her a rosary. And she opened and saw that the rosary had two crosses, instead of one. She was shocked, and she asked the woman in dream: "Why have you given me a rosary with two crosses?", and the Lady responded, "I know that you can have it." The dream was over.

Next morning, as they were ready to leave to meet the doctor, she told TSR. "I saw Mother Mary in my dream last night. She gave a rosary with two crosses, and said that I can have it. I think, we are heading for some real trouble - which is going to be from two sides. I feel there is going to be more complication with this baby in my womb. And I don't know what is the other." The both discussed and reflected on it, as they went to the nearby town to meet the doctor. Incidentally, the doctor's name was, "Moses" - the valiant rescuer of the people of Israel.

Next: on 9 May: "Birth of a Miracle - II : The Birth Pangs"