As Muskaan curled herself up on her cozy warm bed and got ready to hear a story from her dad, he made himself comfortable on the chair just beside her bed. Just like any other night, Muskaan was very excited, she loved to hear stories by her dad every night,they were always based on real life, she had got so used to them that now it had become extremely hard for her to sleep without her “goodnight story” , as she liked to call them. “Dad, time for my goodnight story….. J”, she said with her mellifluous voice filled with anticipation. “Yes my princess, daddy will tell you a story, and today daddy will tell you a very serious story, is daddy’s Muskaan responsible enough to understand it?”, asked her dad. “Muskaan is a big girl daddy! Tell me the story…please ,please ,please ,please!” exclaimed Muskaan, her sugary voice filled with innocence. Hence, to delight her, he began the story, or as we can say, their journey to another world……
“
Once there was a man named Vijay Dhanraj,
a very rigorous and upright man, he took life as a competition and made
sure he would win in each and every level of this competition. He was
tremendously ruthless and unwavering, it seemed as though it had become a
custom for “success” to kiss his feet. He owned a construction company and
expected his son, KD, as everybody called him, to join his business too and
take the company to new heights. But that was far from the hue of prospect
intended by KD. He was a striving go-getter, as his father, but not in the
province of business. He wanted to become a fulltime writer, he had an entire
file filled with his write-ups, which were indubitably magnificent. The status
quo of his relationship with his dad was never quite hale, they were at
loggerheads ‘cause of the same issue since years. He was resolved to become a
writer but his dad, as predictable, disapproved. Often KD had endeavored the
polite way of convincing his dad, for instance, by asking him to read some
of his write-ups, but he always got a
parallel style of rejoinder – “I don’t have time to squander or fritter away. I
can’t believe you are my son! Why can’t you be au fait with the fact that
you’ve got obligations? This empire will soon need a new king and the prince is
wasting his life doing rubbish! I didn’t educate you so that you would crumble
and throw away all your responsibilities like a useless piece of paper. This
life is a competition my son, where the only thing in your mind should be
victory, victory and nothing else. You’ve got no scope in a profession like
writing. Listen son, I’m your father, and I’m not naïve like you, I know what
is good for you.” To which KD always replied – “Yes dad, you know what is good
for me, but only I know what will make me happy. And writing makes me happy
dad. It is the desire of my soul. Working with you might give me success, help
me triumph, but it will never give me the satisfaction that I badly need. I am
not running away from my responsibilities, I am just trying to fulfill them my
own way. But you know what, it’s no use explaining all this to you, because to
be candid, you never understand and I am sure that you will never ever
understand.” The state of affairs was quite like this in their extravagant
domicile, people often blathered about them that their family had got great
opulence and accomplishments, but they didn’t possess the peace of mind which
was a basic characteristic of a happy life. In all this chaos there was one
person who was hurt the most, KD’s mother. And why not? When the two most
important people in your life get hostile to each other’s happiness and have
frequent recurring arguments day in and day out, how can you not be forlorn or
dejected? If it were up to her to make the decision, maybe even she would have
been perplexed. After all it would be enormously hard for any woman to choose
between the expectations of her husband and the desires of her son.
As
days passed by, the arguments between the father and the son started
intensifying rapidly. Both were
completely depressed but the former had a very advantageous ability that never
let anybody know how gloomy or hurt he was – the ability to conceal his
emotions. He engrossed himself in his work and attempted to show others that he
was not at all worried about anything. But on the other hand, KD tried to bring
out his depression by smoking. He spent most of the day out of the house and
whenever he returned he locked himself up in the four walls of his room. If
anybody would’ve entered his room, he would’ve found the expensive silver
ashtray filled with the overflowing bulk of used cigarettes and ash. Soon
Mr.Dhanraj started to force his son to go to the construction sites and learn
how to manage the work. As unlikely as it seemed, he was adamant that like
every other walk of life, even this time he will be the winner in the end.
Little did he remember that just like his dad, KD had got collosal amount of
determination, or as we can call it, ‘stubbornness’. One day as he was forcing his son to go to
the construction site and arguing when getting an excuse as a response,
Mrs.Dhanraj decided to intervene. As soon as she got a chance to have a private
talk with her son, she said, “ Son, just go this time, for your mother’s sake.
You are well cognizant that all these arguments and fights have taken away your
mother’s peace of mind. Please my dear, go just this one time. I am not forcing
you to join his company but at least you can go to the site for once. What’s
there to lose anyway.” This time it was KD’s “Achilles’ heel” that had put
forward just a small request. How could he deny? Thus he agreed to go but made
it a point to make his father comprehend the fact that he was definitely not
the reason why he had agreed upon his wish.
It
was nearly evening when Mr.Dhanraj got a phone call from his assistant, which
was the beginning of his journey of realization – “Hello sir, there is an
emergency, KD was in the construction site when suddenly he started to cough
like crazy and soon started having severe breathing problem. They took him to
the Pure Dew Hospital, sorry sir but it seems serious….” That was it,
Mr.Dhanraj could hear no more as his mind had drifted away. Emotions were
overflowing in his each and every nerve, as if all his ability to control his
emotions had gone on a strike.
“I’m
sorry Mr.Vijay. KD has got COPD i.e. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, it
is one of the incurable chronic diseases that is prevalent in the people who
have a very bad habit of smoking. Simply anybody can’t get this disease but seems like KD’s got a bit too less
immunity. This disease starts with normal coughing and in the critical stage it
causes severe breathing problem that can lead to……I’m sorry I have to say this,
but the chances of survival for a long time is……not much, he already had the
disease, but the air pollution in the construction site caused a flare-up in
his condition. You shouldn’t have let him go there. I’m sorry sir , but we are
trying our level best, there is a treatment that we can use, lets just hope it
works for him, but as for now, sorry sir, but this is bad, and when I say bad,
I mean real bad.”, said the doctor, his tone trying unsuccessfully to put in
wraps the pain and tension in his mind. Mr.Dhanraj was mime, there was utter
silence. Was he going to lose his son? Was his son going to die? What will
happen? Will KD survive ? All these questions were flowing in his mind. He
peeped inside the door of his son’s room where his son was unconscious, wearing
an oxygen mask. Trying to stop his tears from falling, Mr.Dhanraj decided to do
something that he had refused to do since a long time. He went back home ,
entered KD’s room, searched for his file and when the search was complete,
started reading his write – ups. He was completely amazed and astonished. The
brilliant writing brought about mixed feelings in him, he was filled with pride
, realizing his son’s talent and also went through anguish, regretting how he
never believed in it. He felt ashamed of himself that he could never give his
son the satisfaction and happiness wanted by him and well deserved. ‘But now I
will.’ – he thought, taking a decision that he should’ve taken long ago.
Back
at the hospital , Mr.Dhanraj sat next to his son’s bed and slightly touched his
shoulder . Without letting anybody speak, he started speaking out what he
wanted to say, “ My son, I am extremely sorry. I was wrong. But now I have
realized that your happiness is of utmost importance to me. I am sorry it took
me so long to understand the desire of your soul. But now everything will be
fine, my dear son. I have talked to a publisher and sent him your write – ups,
which I must say are amazing. I am proud of you my son. You need not join my
company, you will definitely get success, whether it be in the field of
business or in writing. I’m sorry son. Forgive me please.” KD could not speak even
a single word as he still had the oxygen mask on. Mr.Dhanraj badly needed to
know what was going on in his mind.
Tears fell down from KD’s eyes and with a great effort indeed, he lifted
his hand and put it on his father’s hand. That explained it all…”
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