A Broken Leg and a Mended Friendship

What would be an ideal weekend getaway for you? Anyone like camping? What if you were offered the chance to go camping in India. Somewhere up in the mountains. You could hike through the pine and eucalyptus trees, or you could swim and kayak in the lake. You could leap off waterfalls into deep dark pools of water and cap it all off with a hot Indian meal and sitting around a fire. Would you do it? I certainly took it for granted when I got to do it every year.

We had a camp site called Avalanche that our class would go to once a year. Oddly enough it is not pronounced “ava-lanch” but “ava-lanchee.” I have many precious memories of adventuring at the campsite. Fresh air, beautiful scenery, but I suppose as a teenager I was more so enjoying the activities with friends. Of course none of my adventures match when my brother’s class was there for a weekend and had to evacuate to the lake side to escape a forest fire raging through the nearby hills. That year when it was our turn to camp out, some of the hills were black and charred instead of the usual lush green.

I did however have an adventure at Avalanche that etched its way into my memory excruciating hour by excruciating hour.

It was in Standard 9 (the equivalent of 8th grade just about). My best friend Chan and I had just had a falling out. I don’t even remember what it was about. But we were both furious with each other and basically just ignored each other because we were young, immature and didn’t know how to handle conflict. This arrangement was rather difficult because we shared a bunk bed, sat next to each other in basically every class, played on all the same teams and had all the same friends. But still, we insisted on ignoring each other and not addressing the problem. After a time of putting ourselves through this, it was our dorm’s turn for the weekend away at Avalanche. Excitement was high as it always was. We packed for the weekend, were dropped off by the bus and hiked in. We sat around the fire the first night and listened to the plan for the activities and the blah blah, safety, blah blah, hospital is hours away, blah blah.

Next morning we were far from the campsite “mucking about” as they say. The job at hand was collecting firewood so we could make some sambar (a spicy lentil soup) and rice for lunch. There was a stream that ran between two shallow hills. One bank was a few feet higher than its muddy opposite. A couple of my friends and I were taking flying leaps across the stream from the high side of the stream to the other and landing in the shallow mud. I declared to everyone that I was going to do a Hulk Jump (whatever that means) then I ran and leapt across the stream and *SNAP* went my leg.

I sat crying in the mud with my now floppy leg as classmates gathered around or looked for sticks for a splint and the staff made a plan. Once my leg was splinted, we waited and waited and waited as the loud, cumbersome lorry (truck) that belonged to the campsite made its way down a jungle track to find us by the stream. A couple men came down from the lorry to carry me and one of the men promptly slipped on the mud and fell on top of me! Thanks guy.

But before I was tossed into the back of the lorry I was told I could ask a friend to return with me to the hospital and to school. It was a big moment. It would have normally been such an easy decision but Chan and I had not said a word to each other in days… Would he even want to come? But I asked if they could ask Chan. And he came.

Talk about grace. I don’t think I even apologized for everything that had happened between us. But he gave up his weekend at Avalanche with all our friends and returned to school with the crying kid who had been ignoring him for days. He sat in the back of the lorry with me and our dorm parent as we bounced back along the muddy deep-rutted road to return to town.

It took about 5 hours to reach the hospital. Once admitted the Doctor walked in, said something in Tamil to the nurses, yanked on my leg to set it and when I screamed in pain he apparently told them to put me under because within moments all I could see were kaleidoscope colors for what felt like an eternity. Much could be said about Dr. Ramakrishnan, but I’ll have to save that for another time. Besides yanking on my clearly broken leg, I heard many stories of his “care” from other students. He was a villain in eyes of the student body and a great scapegoat for injuries that did not heal quickly. But here I am in my 30s and still able to walk so I suppose he did something right. Anyways, when I came to, I was in a hospital bed with a massive cast on my leg from the middle of my thigh to the beginning of my toes. The school nurse and one of my brothers and his friend were sitting in the room too.

It was quite an ordeal. Especially bouncing along in the suspensionless truck. But as painful as it was, it brought my friendship back together. So I’m thankful for the experience. It led to a deeper friendship and, in fact, Chan and I shared the story with the whole school during an assembly as an opportunity to teach about forgiveness. And years later he was my best man and I was his at our weddings. It was Chan’s wedding most recently so it was a trip down memory lane in many ways. Chan is a man of God, a man of integrity and prayer. He is generous, intentional in all he does, is loyal, has an adventurous spirit, and knows how to have a good time. What more could you look for in a friend? Some friends you have for a season and some friends you can have for a lifetime. When you realize you found a lifetimer, hold on to them and hold onto them tightly. Do not let petty squabbles, miscommunication, pride, fear of confrontation or plain old immaturity get in the way of a lifelong friendship. I thank God that I broke my leg and our friendship was mended. I’m sure our fight would have gotten resolved eventually, or maybe not. Things can fester and hurts can build up. But God was kind to save our friendship and I’m thankful that Chan showed grace and sacrifice when I was in need of a friend.