The Man with Golden Kidney

There any many people who inspire me to do better things, who teach me to live better. This is one heart-touching story of a man who inspires you to become a better human being.

The Preface:

This is the story of a man, who donated a kidney to his daughter risking his life. This is the story of a man who always carries a smile on his face, some people term it as ‘baby smile’. This is the story of a man who inspires you to see always the grateful things in life. This is the story about a man who is like Dronacharya for me, good enough not asking for the thumb. If I’m an efficient public speaker today, most of the credit goes to this man. The man I’m talking about is Ravindra Dastikop, an avid reader and chai(tea) lover.

The Meet:

It has been a long time, I did not meet him. One day, we had a work-related meet at my home. After a few minutes, the conversation moved to the personal front.

I asked, “How is Life, Sir?”. 

He replied with a smile, “Everything is fine, but I had to donate a kidney to my daughter”. 

I was wondering in my mind, how the hell someone can be so cool even after donating a kidney. I always observe people’s micro-expressions. His smiling face was gleaming with the reflection of a peaceful mind by his actions. I looked at him with a “Tell me more” face with attentive ears.

The Unexpected:

As he unrolled the facts, his daughter was diagnosed with kidney failure, both of them. Being on dialysis to be alive is pain. It was need of the hour to get a kidney transplant, as early as possible. (Remember, we need at least one to survive). In typical, filmy style the hunt for kidney donors started. But it was not that easy, the recipient body will not accept a kidney from strangers due to the defence mechanism of the body and other medical factors. Then, based on doctors advice it is better to get it from the family members. Contradicting the Bollywood style of doom thana, doom thana, here many family members were willing to donate. As he puts it, “Donating the kidney is not difficult, but after-effects are ”. The donated person’s body has to adapt from twin-kidney function to a single function which may lead to catastrophic health risks.

The Dad’s Call:

We know, every Dad loves his daughter. But loving at the cost of his own health is lovely. Here Ravindra Dastikop Sir decided to donate his kidney, as picking others may jeopardize their life too. At the age of 55, it was a tough decision. In spite of that, many recommended him to wait in the hope for a donor. He is wise enough to know “When decisions are delayed, even the right decision taken late can go wrong”. He decided to take the call early.

The Unanticipated:

In the virtue of all this, another problem cropped up. Life is like that, loads of surprises. His father(85+) has something called Dementia. To put in simple terms, his Dad is like a mini Ghazni. Needs somebody to assist all the time. He forgets things like what is he doing, where he is and all. Thanks to technology, he searched and found a good caring centre (Dementia Village, near Yelahanka) for dementia people. This is a wise decision to be at calm in critical situations.

The Hospital Hypocrisy:

As the transplant was about to be scheduled, the Hospital/Doctors asked him to sign some consent papers. As he narrates it,

Doctor: “You have to give consent that you agree for this operation. Also agree that things may go wrong like death. And the hospital/doctor is not responsible for that.”

(This is similar to software/apps “I agree” section of terms and conditions in case if anything goes wrong while using that software/app)

Ravindra Dastikop: “Fine, I will give consent. But how can you let things go wrong? I have to pay your bills, right?”

This swag reply shows his presence of mind and sense of humour before heading for an operation. He is cool like that. You can relate the situation by the following meme.

The Insurance:

There were two premiums he was investing in, one was a financial premium, another is his morning walk (8KM). The estimated cost of the transplant was about 8 lakhs plus which was covered by insurance without which it would have been a financial disaster. Both premium he invested in paid off. One made him have good health, another saved him from adversity.

We can learn from him that, it is always a good idea to invest in exercise yourself personally to be fit and invest in insurance for financial adversities.

The Golden Kidney:

The transplant happened on 11-09-2019, it was a successful operation. But a week of caution period was mentioned to report about the adaptability of kidneys. Luckily, both Dad and Daughter are fine. Interestingly his kidney was reported to function very well in his daughter’s body. It is behaving like a new kidney in layman terms. It is because of his kind, loving nature of being a kid at heart. This is why I called him “The man with Golden Kidney”. He is the best example of right thought and emotions lead to better health. I read about it in Bruce Lipton’s book “The Biology Of Belief” in various talks of Dr. B. M. Hegde.

The Society:

There are few societal challenges to be faced which he has already thought off. Regardless of people influencing his actions and decisions, he was firm on his own. As they say, “You need to listen to others, but take your own decision”. The next challenge would be finding the gentleman who will marry this beautiful girl with a “golden kidney”. Which is hard in girl screening society.

The Postface:

Living with a single kidney is a little challenging at his age. He would have moaned and questioned God like Why me? Why is this happening to me? But he did not do that. He accepted as things are. Acceptance is always positive. It conditions your mind to be balanced and calm. Most people suffer in life, as they don’t accept things as they are.

He is an example of ‘How a person should be?’. He looks at things as they are. If somebody questions me like, “You have just one day to live, Who would like to spend with”. I would choose Ravindra Dastikop Sir.

PS: Sorry my dear wife, love you.