Meher Kumar

Editor's note: Meher Kumar is Amiya and Gauri's eldest son. He was born with a cleft palate, which was repaired in an operation that has Beloved Baba's hand in great evidence. The full story is told in Memoirs of a Zetetic, but here is a brief version taken from Amiya's reminiscences as he was going through these letters:

Amiya picks up the story: "Yes, that was the cleft palate operation, but looking to his tender age, he was just about 11 months old, so it was an operation of duration nearly 45 minutes. He had to be unconscious. It's rather risky because of the very delicate condition of a patient at that age. Then, it was successfully done, and he has now become a singer. Prior to Meher Kumar's operation, I gave a Baba photo to the plastic surgeon who was to perform the operation. I was getting ready to leave for Jabalpur, and as I was walking away, I looked at the building opposite and I saw Baba standing there. That gave me the courage, and I left the place for my home knowing that my son would survive the operation. I saw that the words of the letter had become literally true."

This is a fragment of the full story about how Meher Kumar got admitted to the hospital. Another part of the story is told here, and also it should be added that the cleft palate was sufficiently severe that Meher Kumar couldn't suck milk, so there was a problem feeding him.

"It's now a year later, and time for the operation, but in spite of Baba's injunction to get the operation done in Calcutta, when Sister Gauri gets there, she finds it impossible to get a place in the hospital: no room, no operating room, nothing. Baba urges her to try and try again, and one morning she goes to the hospital to find it completely empty. The person on duty says, 'Bring your child in here immediately -- the whole hospital is at your disposal. We had a strike, and all the patients went home. Now the strike is ended, the hospital is open again for business, and you're the first one across the threshold.' So, the problems vanished (the 'little confusion for some time' cleared up) and the operation was done and was so successful that Meher Kumar today shows no signs of it, and sings for a living."