Mysterious Colours of Life

"Chanduuu...,I told you not to leave dad alone",called out Sakha seeing her paralytic father-in-law struggling with his shawl.

"No didi,I am right here,had just gone to get some warm water for dad's sponge bath."soberly replied the caregiver.

"Okk..,after finishing with the bath help dad with the glass of orange juice that Kamala has kept ready in the kitchen,before you give him the medicines.I will be back by 12." Instructing Chandu Sakha left hurriedly in a chauffeur driven car waiting outside her 2 storey spacious bungalow.

Today she was about to meet her new group of friends over a brunch at a boutique hotel in South Mumbai.

     *   *   *

Four years ago one morning Bhaskarbhai suddenly realised that he was unable to move his body.An hour later Gopal noticed it and immediately hospitalised him.Bhaskarbhai was suffering from hypertension from a long period of time and maybe his busy schedule and lack of appropriate care had resulted into this paralytic stroke.He is bedridden since then.The left side of his body is completely paralysed such that he cannot even turn his sides without someone's help.His speech is impaired to such an extent that it is utterly unintelligible. Unable to interact with people he unceasingly resorts to self talk.These 4 years of loneliness and remoteness has given birth to innumerable questions in his mind that Bhaskarbhai is desperately trying to seek an answer to.

     *   *   *

Gopal who is in his late twenties at present got married to Sakha the girl of his own choice just a couple of years ago.He being an only child has always been the sole object of Bhaskarbhai's expectations.And Gopal never defied these expectations.He has been amenable,tractable and obedient right from his childhood.Though it was never a one way affair. Bhaskarbhai too loved Gopal unconditionally and never held out against anything Gopal wished for.

Immediately after marriage all the responsibility shifted solely to Sakha and she has been stepping up to it candidly.However along with the responsibilities she also has been solitarily enjoying the inestimable privileges in this flush,opulent,moneyed family.

     *   *   *

This spectacular opulence is the sequel of the sheer hard work,determination and workaholic nature of Bhaskarbhai.Gopal had lost his mother at an early age of eight and since then Bhaskarbhai has single-handedly raised him.Coming out victoriously at both the fronts had filled him with somewhat unreasonable pride.

Bhaskarbhai always had been a sharply dressed,confident person and a man of dignified bearing.Though he had one trait and that was he always considered himself superior to the flood of people around him in his neighbourhood and far family perhaps who were not so fortunate.He had built up his empire persistently over a period of time.He ran a big highly reputable 2 storey jewellery store in the heart of Mumbai city and owned many small shops across the city that he had rented out.He was also the owner of a 3 storey building named 'Prem Kunj' in which he occupied the entire top floor.Besides, there were a total of eight other small flats in the building that he had rented out as well.Bhaskarbhai resided in this building for quite a long period of time inspite of its mediocre location.Maybe he was somewhat emotionally attached to this place where he had spent his childhood.It was just since last 7 years that he had shifted to this expensive luxurious bungalow in the posh swanky locality.

Bhaskarbhai always looked down upon these middle class families who were his tenants at Prem Kunj and never spoke to them considerately.

He was very particular about his routine and his day started as early as 4 in the morning.He loved his customary pattern which included;an hour of yoga followed by an elaborate puja(prayers) and then feeding the birds.later he would have a healthy breakfast and then would head towards his work place sharp at 9am following his daily accustomed route.For Bhaskarbhai work was worship and his store a holy place.While going down the stairs in the morning Bhaskarbhai would come across a shabby little girl in a scruffy frock with running nose and unruly hair, sitting with her equally shabby looking doll midway on the stairs.He would consider it inauspicious,unfavourable and unpropitious, therefore picking up unpleasant arguments with her parents on several days.And on other days, he would squeeze himself and walk past her almost shooing her away with nauseated and disgusted face.According to him he was on his way to an important mission of acquiring profits and this girl was a barrier he had to jump every day unwillingly.

     *   *   *

Years rolled by and this shabby little girl with running nose and unruly hair grew up into a beautiful,graceful woman with an incredible smile, an amazing attitude and pleasing personality.Though her simplicity always portrayed her as a girl next door.

Gopal fell in love with her. They were together for four long years before they got married two years ago.

Bhaskarbhai never resisted his decision as his love for Gopal was much stronger than the dislike he had for Sakha and her middle class family.

There being no other female member in the house and Gopal being quite busy with his work and Bhaskarbhai bedridden , Sakha took up the prime position in the house soon after the marriage.She almost became the head of the family, making every decision, making every choice relevant for the house and the family.She also has been the prime enjoyer of the wealth that Bhaskarbhai has grown little by little by sheer hard work and toiling.

How unimaginable is the unspoken language of the nature!

     *   *   *

Lying on the bed 24 by 7, Bhaskarbhai often slips into his past and asks innumerable questions to himself , seeking an answer to each one of them.

"Did I spent half of my life going behind wealth , ignoring my health for this girl I shunned the most?" "Oh really!" it is laughable he said to himself.

"Only if I knew when I was shooing her away"

"Was this girl whom I considered inauspicious , infact the most auspicious one for me?"

"Maybe nature always knew that she was going to be the ultimate garner of the benefits that ensued my laborious undertakings."

He was finding it all really unbelievable.

" We human beings are so foolish so witless.We think that we are masters of our destiny. We are above all. Especially when the nature is favouring us and pushing us, giving us an invisible hand, we think great about ourselves and look down upon the people who may be better than us, smarter than us, more hard working than us but perhaps lacking nature's support."

"Life is so full of surprises but is this human mind that we are so proud of capable of guessing those?"

"I was so particular about my clothes and was weary of even a single wrinkle seen on it. Does it matter any more?"

"Today all my wealth and all my pride, nothing nothing at all is able to buy me even a bit of peace and happiness."

"It can buy me the most expensive shoes but cannot make walk."

"It can get me the most delicious meal but cannot make my hands reach even till my mouth."

"Nature's secrets are so deep hidden...Are we 'The super creatures' on this planet as we think ourselves to be, able to reveal those before time?"

Life is finite but possibilities are infinite.

"I was taking life so gravely just like a student of a medical or an engineering college. Perhaps Focus is shifted and I will fail.And therefore always lived on the edge. But today from where I see, it seems to me a comic show."

"Maybe I would have lived a little, sang a little, danced a little, befriended a little...then I would have felt so fulfilled."

"There are countless questions straying my mind but no one around to help me with the answers. Because I never earned anyone, any real being in flesh and blood."

"At this stage of my life , I happen to remember a couple of lines from a poem I came across while teaching Gopal as a child , penned by William Wordsworth-

' What is this life if full of care , no time to stand and stare....' "

"Do we really know ,why are we running all the time? For what are we running? And for whom are we running?"