A Phone Call From Heaven
It was an evening in late Jan 2014. I was preparing dinner. Onions were sizzling in a buttered pan and pressure cooker was blowing whistles on the side. I reached out for my phone to call mom. But in a split second, I realized that I can’t do that anymore. I was surprised how could I forget that mom was no more. You see, ever since I moved to the US, I called my mom almost every evening. I would be cooking dinner while she would be sipping her early morning tea, and we would just chat for hours.
Disappointed, I kept the phone away and resumed cooking. There was a lump of sadness in my heart knowing that I could never speak to my mom again. Just at that moment, my phone rang. The call was from an unknown caller. I answered the phone and heard my mom’s voice. She said “Bubble?”, my nickname at home. In disbelief, I asked, “Who is it?”. I again heard, “Bubble?”. My heart was pounding super fast, and I inquired, “Mom?”. Then there were about 5 seconds of static noise, and the call got disconnected.
I turned off the stove and sat down at the dining table to contemplate. There were hundreds of questions racing in my mind. Questions like: How could it be my mom? Should I call the phone company to see if they can track the caller? Could it be someone else who sounded just like my mom — maybe one of my aunts?
I needed to talk to someone, so I called Kaku, my brother. It was early morning in India, and he was rushing to get to work. I told him that I felt as if mom called me. He did not pay much heed to what I was trying to tell him. He reverts that I am overthinking and I need to let mom go. I agreed with him and scoffed off, “Yeah you are right, maybe it was someone else. Maybe my mind just made it up. Ah I’ll ignore it”. He insisted that I divert my attention to somewhere else. I assured him that I will and hung up the phone.
I called my husband, enquiring when he was coming back home. He said he had picked up girls from after school and was on his way home. I was contemplating if I should tell him about this phone call. I felt this was too weird for anyone to make sense of, so I decided to keep this incident to myself till I understand it better.
As the girls came back home, we gathered around the dining table to eat. From outside I pretended to act calm but in my mind, thoughts were racing to make sense of what I experienced. The more I thought about it the more I questioned my sanity. I was perplexed, because I knew I heard my mom’s voice, but how was it logically possible?
Looking back…
My mom was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease called Wegener’s Granulomatosis in May 2013. Suddenly life changed drastically for our family. My brother and dad were managing all aspects of mom’s care in India and here I was stuck living so far away in the US with my husband and kids. There were feelings of guilt and regret in me for not being able to help mom when she needed me. Though I made multiple trips to India that year, they were nothing compared to how my brother was taking care of her.
In late November, the inflammation in her lungs came back. I was scared and planned a quick trip to surprise her. The flight landed late in the night and Kaku was there to take me home. He had kept his promise to keep it a surprise, so no one had a clue that I was coming. I tiptoed in mom’s bedroom and snuggled next to her. With the night light on, I could see her in the dark. All the medications and steroids had plumped her face and she was looking cute as a baby. I couldn’t resist hugging her and it woke her up. The moment she realized it was me, she propped up on the bed with childlike excitement. She woke up everyone in the house and we all spent the night chatting, laughing, drinking chai, and eating snacks. My short stay was magical as we lived, loved, and appreciated every precious moment we had together. I came back to the US on Dec 7th.
On Dec 18th, 2013 she passed away. I returned this time for Kaku and my dad. After doing all the final ceremonies and rituals, all the relatives and friends had left. There was so much stillness and silence in the house. To my surprise, I was not missing her. I was relieved that she was out of pain and felt that she was still around watching us closely.
On Dec 31st evening as I was packing my suitcase to return to the US, I felt I saw mom in my peripheral vision. I got spooked and ran to my dad, “I feel mom is here to say me goodbye”. My dad had no words. After few days, I dismissed that event assuming that it was just my imagination, and forgot about it.
Slowly life resumed back and I got busy with the regular stuff and chores. The bouts of grief used to come in waves. I missed our daily facetime conversations the most. It was one of those evenings when I was missing her deeply when that phone rang. I know she felt my heart crying for her and called me to give me proof that she was around.
Later that night, when everyone slept, I took my confusion to google and typed “Can a deceased person call you on the phone?”. I wanted to know if anyone else had a similar experience. To my surprise, I found that many people had reported after-death communication with their loved ones.
In the following days, there were a series of vivid, lifelike dreams where I felt that my mom visited me. I used to wake up super happy, with a feeling as if I met her in person. She used to look radiant, young, and in perfect health. She would tell me about herself and the things she was experiencing in the afterlife. These experiences were very therapeutic for me as I felt that mom was still around and doing ok. I was satisfied to know that she was having fun on the other side.
I normally forget dreams soon after waking up, but these are the dreams that I remember to date. As my heart healed, her visitations in my dreams subsided. My mom proved to me that death is only a physical separation, in spirit, our loved ones never really leave. They are always around and look after you from the other side.
No matter how old you are, it is never easy to say goodbye to your parent who brought you on this earth. Sometimes the connection is so strong that it carries on somehow. And if you sit in the stillness of your heart and communicate with them, you can almost hear the words they would choose to say to you. You can feel the warmth of their love when you need it the most. This is something that cannot be explained. Love is a very mystical and powerful entity that can cross all physical boundaries.
