A life lost forever

This was supposed to be the happiest day of their life, a boring yet adventurous one…“Ma’am, the whole tour of Humayun’s tomb will cost you only Rs.500...”…” No, thank you, we are not interested..”…”Ma’am please take this opportunity to discover the grand tomb of the Second Mughal Emperor”...After much negotiations,the price was finally set at 300..But the tourists were least interested in this deal…Even I then left the persuasion…It was 5:00 pm by then…That day, I earned a meagre amount of 350 rupees from a group of Korean tourists who were eager to know about this resplendent monument that existed in our country… Next destination was my home…That’s the only place in the world I believe we can take a calm breath…The happiest sight for any father is when he comes back home and sees his children waiting for him…For me, I suppose, was the same…A tight,cosy hug from my two little kids relaxed me and a hot cup of tea from my wife was an icing on the cake….Well, I apologise…I forgot to introduce myself…I am Mr. Henry, an unfortunate,fatigued persona but a happy family man with two cute kids and a supporting consort…My children,Gimmy and Macbeth were twins,both aged 7, and my wife, Suzanne was the one whom I could confide to…My life wasn’t the life I would want…Everyday , I had to go to a dead man’s burial place and request people to hire me to tell something which is easily available on Google…It is said that every dog has its day, but my condition was,I thought, much worse than that…For the past 5 days, I earned only 800 Rs. And Suzanne,after day’s hardwork earned 1000…I had to hear the taunts, abuses, suggestions(Actually,they weren’t),advices and what not…My children faced criticism and discrimination in their so-called government school were the students were taught to hate the poor and serve the rich which wasn’t the part of their syllabus,I believed…My life was going like this. Monotonous and uneventful when one day something unimaginable happened…It was Sunday,I guess, a newly married couple came to visit the tomb…A rather unexpected destination for honeymoon… I approached them and earnestly requested them to take me as their guide for a wonderful tour..And I knew, I could do this job well…History was the subject which I loved…I got the old books from my elder sister,but between the torn and inked pages, I had the ability to witness the past….It fascinated me like anything…And I kept my promise,unlike politicians, and provided my tourists the best ever tour they could have...Before I could start the negotiations,the part which I hated the most,personally, the couple agreed to the initial price of rupees 500..I fail to understand one thing when we visit shops and malls, we ought to keep the minimum line to be 500 rupees or even more and when we visit the monuments and see a poor man dressed as a guide offering to help us for the same amount, we refuse without showing slightest of concern for the poverty-stricken guy who is sandwiched between societal pressure,family demands and the needs of his children…Well, I was elated then..500 was the amount I wanted to hear from any tourist which I supposed was never written in my destiny…The couple changed my destiny…I began my tour from the front gate of the tomb and showed them the marvellous scriptures on walls and to be honest, even I was as astonished just as the couple who were visiting the place were, though it was my hundredth time, I guess..Everytime I saw the monument I was just lost into the thoughts that how could the people of the ancient era build such a beauty which withstood many wars and betrayals and is still so much standing there…I realized that the era in which we are living is full of contradictions… I believe a simple, impecunious live like mine is thousand times better than other, luxurious lives…They have their own war…They fight for property,rights,children, basic things and what not…Who posts a better picture and whose has more likes are the main criteria…You believe or not, the real fight is of hunger and survival…In that case, we ignored people are the real warriors….How does it feel when your child wants something but you refuse? You all probably have the money to afford but did you rich classes, ever thought of our condition? We are forced to refuse our children…We use force to make them quite but I promise when back home, behind the closed doors, it’s we who cry the most…How does it feel when other women look at your wife and say that look, it’s the old saree she has been wearing…? Our wives can’t be arrogant and demand a new saree because they know, Food is important than clothes…A naked man with food may survive but a well-covered man without a morsel of food will not…The couple asked few questions about the date, builder, time taken and I answered all of them with much ease and perfection…After all it was the only thing that was a piece of cake for me….Well I believe the day was mine.Only mine….Half-way, I met another man who was an amateur photographer...For the first time a man approached me and asked for a guided tour…Were we allowed for such kind treatment? He was a polite guy, rarely found these days...I met many men and women who behaved rudely rather arrogantly with us showing off their attitude….I agree I am not so rich but I may presume it safely that I am a better human being than the upper classes…Atleast we help people selflessly not to gain popularity but to seek blessings from the people…Anyways, the amateur introduced himself as Michael and was very keen to know about the monument…We all had a wonderful time together and it was evening 6pm..I was late…That day I earned 1000 bucks, breaking my own previous record of 650 a day…We find happiness in every small thing…Even if we give a small,cheap toy to our kids, they will be ecstatic and will be grateful but see, even expensive gifts worth lakhs are not able to satisfy a rich kids….For us, a small outing to have kulfi with family is worthier than a lavish outing alone….Somewhere in our own world, we are not the same anymore….Earlier, without phones, we had a real family now with phones, our family is destroyed..That’s why I often thank God for making us poor…Yes, we don’t have enough money to feed ourselves but we have enough memories to cherish when we will miss our dear ones…I turned back to ask the money but what did I see? They weren’t there? I searched for them but it was a wild goose chase…After an hour I sat there, dejected and disheartened…I was about to cry, but a hand was there on my shoulder..I turned back to acknowledge his kind gesture but even he wasn’t there? What was happening? Was I mad or it was just a fragment of my imagination?...I was frustrated and gave a loud cry…Why only me?What I did? Why am I duped of my money? Then, a man came and gave me some medicines, when I vaguely asked,” My money?Won’t they give me back?”…He replied,”Henry, sleep now..You have been awake since long..Stop imagining the same things again & again”…..I pressed the pillow hard to hide my tears….I am now in an old age home, neglected and cornered…I worked so hard for my children and sacrificed my own wishes for them but even they left me when I needed them the most…Suzanne died 2 years ago of Pneumonia and now no one is there for me… I am happy that at least in one thing I have the rights to equalize the rich classes… I guess your children treat you the same way, don’t they? We are actually a burden to them…Aren’t we?....When we see them smile after they leave us here, there’s nothing more we can ask for….Gimmy and Macbeth are now grown up…They have their own small family….I am not alone by the way….I have memories to cherish and history books, torn and inked, to read…They are my lifelong friends….

“Good bye …Will meet you all again tomorrow if the Almighty permits…Again a day full of boredom and melancholy…”

“Are these his last words?”,asked Gimmy who was now in tears….”Yes”,said Macbeth…They were now orphans with their happy family…Henry was no more and now this duo realized there mistake…Only if they had known this earlier, a life could have been saved…by then it was too late…

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