The Forced Farewell

My friend was almost in tears, when she saw the middleaged man in tears. It is not common to come across a middleaged man shedding bitter tears. He was shedding tears thinking of the plight of his daughter. She, the girl in her twenties, cared very little for the emotional outburst of her father, who but had to struggle from morning till evening to make both ends meet. But she cared less for the father, who could not even afford to provide two square meals for his family members. The plight of poverty-stricken family had found a safe haven for the daughter in a secure convent walls, hoping they may see their daughter have atleast three meals a day, and a worry-free life.

But the dreams of the parents were shortlived, when the young girl decided to quit the secure life, just because she found the "correction" of the sisters too harsh. She might have had an ego, that was too bloated, and she could not think of anyone correcting her. She would do what she wanted, and everyone will have to accept it as coming from God almighty. She found these corrections excruciatingly painful, and her pain was perhaps more than the pain of her hungry father, who was proud to think that her daughter was in a town, growing up speaking English. If he too was as adamant and unrelenting as his daughter, life would have been quite different for this girl.

Life for a young girl in this world is not a bed of roses, or a smooth sail; it has its own share of toils and troubles, especially if a girl is not brought up in a conventional mould. The dropouts and distracted will have to find ways to kill not only their time, but also people with whom they can build a world of their dreams. But who is there to help this girl to start life anew, with renewed vigor and strength? Surely not her father, who is too tired of life already in his forties. His pleading with his daughter could not soften the heart of the girl, and she was leaving pastures green, in search of dry deserts, to find an oasis!

The playful heart of this girl has not taught her a lesson, that the world is not as friendly and warm as it always looks; she had taught the mirages as real, and when she is thirsty and rushes towards the mirages in order to quench her thirst, that would be the moment of self-realization, and that would be the moment she may remember what her father meant for her; what it means to be under the safe and secure care of someone you can trust. When buffeted by the never-ending currents of life, she might look for a breathing space, where she may find someone to wipe her tears. It may be too late before she finds herself in such a situation.

No one on earth has the audacity to decide the fate of another human person; not even God has the power to do that. Each one decides his/her own fate, and that would determine what we make life of. One may tell me that the fruit of a particular tree is bitter or sour, but if I am determined to taste it for myself, who can help me? But unfortunately, in life there may not be second chances, and there may not be avenues to take a U-turn. But she will find her way one day, and remember with gratitude those men and women who had corrected her to mend her ways, for it is only by pruning can a tree reach its full maturity!

Groping in the Dark

It was a festival of lights, and there were non-stop bursting of crackers all around, and the fireworks filled the firmament; the capital did not mind flushing out millions of rupees in order to keep the children feel the festival of lights in their ones. After all, they all said in unison, the people who make crackers and fireworks, need to make a living out of them, and they could afford to burst even after midnight. But from the window of the room where I had taken asylum for four days, I could see the bursts of a different type. And the noise of these ‘crackers’ was far more violent and louder than the ones which filled the already polluted sky.

These are the people who had no place of their own in this metropolis; the citizens of the mega city had a place for every conceivable amusement and enjoyment, but for the people who had been pushed outside the limits of human society, there is no place, where they could sleep in peace. They had managed to squeeze themselves in between two buildings, touching the wall of the building I stayed in. If there was a strong wind, then they may not find the roof of their hutments, and all they had would he gone within no time. Every moment for them is uncertain, but still life was going on. These are the people who burst their voices in the middle of the night, mingling their voices with those of the lifeless crackers.

The protagonist naturally was under the influence of alcohol, one day when the men make the best excuse to drink to their heart’s content, and the women who knew the logic of the men, would not force the bottles away. The young man did not bother to mind his language, it was as crude as he could be. There was another to counter his claims, and the counter claims of the friend were equally loud. It was not clear what they were shouting at, but one thing was sure, these people had no crackers or fireworks to amuse themselves with. Who knows if these people were bursting their empty stomachs, as they went to bed yet another night!

Then all of a sudden, out of the blue came a series of crackers bursting, almost for about a minute, and one of the my friends later said that they were sure to have burst about five thousand rupees worth crackers. Momentary happiness was what kept the people from the high society to flush their “hard” earned money. If all the money that had been spent on crackers and fireworks on the day of Diwali in the capital were to be augmented, it would have been enough to feed all those who were going hungry to bed from at least five states of the sub-continent.

Where can one find true happiness in a celebration as the festival of lights? Is it in the bursting of crackers and displaying the colorful array of fireworks, each one competing with others, or is it in something else! One thing for sure, more and more environmental conscious activists have recommended foregoing the bursting of crackers and amusements with fireworks, which can choke the already polluted air of the capital. I only wish if the nation as a whole decides to forego the colossal waste of crackers and fireworks, and instead find other positive ways of lighting up the lives of others! I wish all those who wanted to celebrate Diwali in a meaningful way could light up diya in the houses of the people who have nothing to eat, and share a meal and joy with them! If that is done, then it might not take too long to brighten up the whole nation.

Fast in Fellowship

I know many people in India think of the former chief minister of Bihar, Sri Lallu Prasad Yadav as a clown in Indian politics, one who can amass public money property shamelessly, and even justify doing so publicly. He has been credited to have turned the ever loss-making Indian railways into a profit making one, which made the world take note of his USP. But I have a soft spot for this Bihari for several reasons: he is a man of the soil; he might have made a fortune out of the fodder scam, but he is also the one who believes in taking care of cows, and sometimes does not feel shy to pose milking the Jersy cows for photographs!

Needless to say, Lallu's wisdom is rustic, untouched by scientific and technological advancement. There are sparks of rustic wisdom in his speech, and one is left to amusement at the wisdom of this man, who however fails to apply such wisdom to reality. While many parts of the country are going through drought-like situation, Lallu had proposed a way to partly overcome this drought, which for the most part is human made. Citing the example of Jagdivan Ram, who during the time of drought in the early years of Indian independence, invited the citizens to fast once a week, Lallu invited the present generation to skip their meals (at least one meal) one day a week!

I found this simple solution not only innovative, though the credit goes to Jagjivan Ram, but it also challenges the people who are responsible for creating such a situation. It is also a challenge to the ever-increasing human greed and avarice. I welcome the idea whole heartedly, and propose an improvement of this idea as follows: It may be hard to skip the meals a whole day, since most of us would not have energy to work if we don't eat the whole day. So here is a way out. On alternative days, I can skip a meal; on monday I skip breakfast, on Wednesday lunch and on Friday supper. At the end of the week, I had skipped three meals, equivalent to not eating for a day.

Doctors recommend fasting as a means of staying healthy, and there are people who fast to keep themselves trim. But fast that is proposed has a wider social message, not only purely personal. What is important is not just to skip a meal, because that may not affect the world around. But then there is a way to make this simple act of fasting meaningful to a wider society. I cannot eat up what I save out of fasting on other days. If I feel the pain of those thousands of men, women and children going hungry to bed each day, then I will keep the grains, pulses and vegetables I save each week, and hand it over to the people who are in dire need of them. In this way, while I feel the hungry stomach, I can see the smile in the face of the hungry children.

Living very close to the VIP road of the City of Joy, I can see on weekends there is no parking space around our house. There are hundreds throng in and around Music World in Park Street, prepared to dole out some money to eat outside. If all these eateries, both big and small, were to pull their shutters once a week, save the food and money, and hand them over to the most deserving children, men and women, then we will see the world changing rapidly.If all men and women earning a salary or wage were to pause for a day in a month, and hand the money for those who lack basic amenities of life, then the world would be a better place for all of us.