Once upon a time there was an adorable young girl who lived with her mother (for her father had passed away) and her older brother. She was beloved by the villagers and other assorted persons. She effortlessly became a real sweetheart to all those who met her. From a lively, fun loving, playful child she grew up to be a demure young woman, who took life and its plethora of shades in stride. And life was hard on her and tested her countless times.. at least until she met someone who changed things forever (more testing followed of course).
In another pristine rural setting, with a respectable number of charming things, many days walk from our young girl's idyllic little village, there lived a boy. A boy who lived with three siblings and countless friends, a devoted, hard working mother, and a harsh father. When he came of age, he left his home for a distant land (about a day and night's walk), in pursuit of youthful dreams.
To see the world and seek his place in it. To make his mark, as every man must, and explore those twisted and unbeaten paths of intellectual and creative pleasures.. to know what it is to be human, to understand frailty and to join the crusade against all that he felt was tyranny over the common man (though this did have unfortunate tangents and unforeseen side effects).
The parents, in both cases, though very relevant to the overall plot, are irrelevant to this post and that, my friends, is how I carefully combine irony and idiocy in one masterful stroke (you'll see why).
Now, back to our story..
Though life had been cruel and rewarding at times to both of them, they lived in ignorant and relative bliss, content with the hands they had been dealt. They knew nothing of each other, though providence had placed them so that their paths would cross, through many individuals, who remained then (and still do, in some cases) unaware of the darkness (more like a boring dimness) they were bringing in to the world.
Their doomed destinies intertwined and their dark fates etched out in the stars, our two youths lived as many young people lived before them and have lived since - bittersweet lives of glorious eventfulness matched at every step by their zest for silent dreaming of what may come.
I write this in their memory..
No! Don't get me wrong. They are very much alive, this couple of ours.. but who or what they once were are now faded or rather fading memories in cracked, yellow pictures to be dusted up once in a while and resurrected in honor of serene, solitary trips down memory lane (usually abruptly cut short).
The young girl was named Sudha (the alternative was Sujatha, which was rejected for unrecorded reasons but has proved convenient since) and the boy was named Jayakumar.
They are my parents and have been obliged to be so, contractually bound to me in eternal servitude, since mid April, 1987 when the aforementioned dimness engulfed their lives in the form of a rather overweight bundle of neediness henceforth known as moi.
A disclaimer at this point - as always I wrote this stuff out of pure emotional instability born out of a need to be awake during the most damning hours of night and have in no shape or form whatsoever, asked for their consent in dragging their good names in to this verbal atrocity of mine.
Now, as an explanation or in conclusion, I will not be diving deep into to their personal histories but rather am choosing to stick to the important reason why this write up was a necessary one in my case, and perhaps in the case of every child out there.
Here's the gist of it -
They were 'people' once. I mean real, breathing, flesh and blood young men and women, like the kind of individuals we chose to call our friends now.. (Although that's a bit scary)
And somewhere along the line with us saying "WAAAAAAHHH!" and somebody else going, "Take care of your child, please..", they died inside.
Metamorphosing gradually but steadily to this crumbling, caring shells of their formerly vibrant selves, that we now righteously bicker with in indignant outrage over various important things like boredom, passive aggression, phone calls and oh yeah.. their ridiculous attempt to control our lives.
Don't be disheartened by my pseudo sarcastic, insomnia driven rant of insight though.. Our cruelty and deep seated evil as offspring has been masked by nature..
How you ask? For they (our parents) are too preoccupied with us and our gloriously eventful lives to fully appreciate the gravity of their demise as 'fully formed' people.
But do not worry those of you seek redemption (or possibly a well defined conclusion to this post) - there is a quick silver lining to this cloud of despair we have given rise to..
It's called Karma or those who prefer the Walt Disney version may chose to refer to this (more optimistically) as the 'Circle of Life'. Either which way, the fact of the matter remains - We are screwed in the end too. :D
May there be a happy and grateful 'In Memorium' in our future as well..
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