If only they understood...

He looked at them quietly, listening to them from behind the trees. These were two of the most wonderful people he knew, both generous, loving, funny and adorable. Yet to each other they showed none of those virtues. He always wondered what changed between them. How did they come to hate each other so much.
The conversation that morning was about who gets to keep the bedroom furniture. Suddenly objects had become objects again. Everything that meant anything at all was desecrated and torn to shreds. All that was left was a fierce need to take possession of the inanimate. And each was desperately trying to do so. They were so consumed by frustration and hatred that they completely forgot he was standing right there, listening to every word. And this was not the first time.
It began eight months ago, the yelling, the bickering and the frequent display of contempt and rage. At first he tried to stop at least one of them. Eventually he realized that they were equally stubborn and that neither person would ever listen to reason. He cried himself to sleep on many nights, when neither came down to tuck him into bed, since they were so busy fighting.
But he still loved them both so very much. Why should he have to choose between two people who loved him so dearly. Although he knew in his heart that they adored him, their lack of showing this affection worried him immensely. His greatest fear had become the fact that they would hate him as much as they hate each other.
At this point they started arguing about who gets to keep him and who can take better care of him. He was on the table now, just like the wardrobe, the bed and the refridgerator. He was being commoditized and they were haggling over him. He couldn't stand there and listen any longer, so he ran up to her and held her hand, tugging at it. In a quick sweep she drew him close, as if to say he now belonged to her and her only. She quickly decided to push the haggling to another day and whisked him away as she began walking. After they walked a considerable distance from the trees and came near the bridge, she decided he needed to be treated to an ice cream. Another commodity to make up for commoditising him. If only ice creams could take care of everything...sigh!

Here today...gone tomorrow.

He approached the form that was a life not so long ago, that now lay still and no longer called out to him. He would never hear the loving call of his son again, the most precious part of his life as he knew it. He was gone. All those times that he had chided him and not reached out to hold him close, just so he could teach him discipline, now seemed so very futile and he desperately craved for just one breathing moment with a child he loved more than life itself.
As he washed the body of a life that had lived barely ten years in this world, he asked himself and his Creator, "Why him? You could have taken me. He was only ten!" As he anointed the boy and prayers were recited, he tried hard to fight back the deluge that emerged from within. Life as he knew it seemed like a wasted effort. What was he living for? Why should he even go on? He slowly rubbed handfuls of earth onto the blessed boy and piled on the logs that caged him. Alas! He wouldn't fight to come out. No, not this time. Unlike every other time he was caged in his room for misbehaving, where he would somehow manage to crawl out of the window and get away. Why can't he find a way out this time? Why won't he just wake up and escape...escape the burning pyre that will cage him forever.
As he set the pyre alight, his heart cried out in desperation and agony. He knew not a pain such as this before and life as he knew it would never be the same again. It was then that he realized how rarely, if ever, he told his son how much he actually loved him. Chiding him and punishing him were regular features but letting him know that he was loved infinitely was something that never materialized. It was always taken for granted. And now he was gone.
The unalterable truth of losing someone we love is that they will never speak to us in the flesh again. We can never hear them again. We will never know them in quite the same way. They will no longer be there to listen, to scold, to love, to protect, to fight with and to just hold your hand. That is a whole being that just ceases to be. What do you do? You talk to the wind...fight with yourself, scold the world and cry when you want to love them. How do you handle losing someone you cherish so deeply? And yet...death as we all know it is the only certainty of life itself. Why then is it so difficult to deal with an absolute certainty when we battle uncertainties every day of our lives? Why is it so incredibly difficult to accept the inevitable?

The Ultimate Gamble

Hand in hand they walk in, he holding a camera and she wearing her 'laal chooda', with mehndi reaching up her calves and sindoor as bright as ever. Each pair that you come across is shockingly similar to the one you saw before. Essentially they are all couples of strangers that are on a mission to find love. So little they know of each other and yet tradition makes them wake up beside each other one morning with the realization that they will be waking up together for the rest of their lives, or atleast as long as they choose to or can humanly survive with each other.
Close to home, with Little India round the corner and low air fares every now and then, the land of the Mer Lion has become a popular  destination with Desi couples. A four hour flight with a stamp on their passports makes them feel kicked about having their honeymoon on foreign soil. As they sit around eating their dosas and picking at their pappadoms, she makes every effort to understand the brut sitting in front of her while he's probably wondering if his life will ever be the same again. Men for some reason have an inherent fear of being shackled, even though more often than not, their wives are living lives that they dictate and spend every waking minute trying  to please their hubbies.
Marriage as we know it is a whole lot more than a 'sacred institution' as it was always referred to by past generations. Today its become the most questioned phenomenon on the planet. How do they do it? Especially when they know zilch about each other. Our grandparents would disagree. Well theirs was another life altogether. Today marrying a stranger is the ultimate gamble 'cause you're gambling with your life. Now gambling is hardly 'sacred' or an 'institution'. Where is all this going, I wonder!