Short Story Family Love and The Birthday!
People, people everywhere and not a soul to talk. Had Vishwanath known what old age entailed, he would have rather preferred to die young. And today 14th febr, 2018 was his birthday. Vish as he was called in his close circles, had clocked the 70th year of his life.
He sat staring at the wall which had several photographs displayed. His family. That was all that was left of family. A few photographs of some wonderful times together. Smiles they had shared. Love and warmth that made up for a cold hard day. It all seemed a long long time ago. He scanned the room he was sitting in. His favourite room. The LIVING room. And the only living soul there was him. A cheerful small home, Vish took care of it like one would take care of a child. This was HIS home. The one he built with Jaya, his wife. Their toil, their dream and the symbol of their life together. He missed her. He wondered how he survived for the last 5 years ever since she succumbed to a terminal illness. And today of all days he missed her more. With Jaya the house breathed life. She seemed to have taken the cheer with her.
Every now and then he checked his mobile to see if he had missed a call. After another 30 minutes of wait, he got up from his rocking chair and decided to take a walk. He promptly remembered to put his mobile in his pocket pouch. This pocket pouch was what his daughter had got him during her last visit, 2 years back. Krishnaa was married to an Italian, had settled in Europe and had two lovely children, now 7 and 9 years old. The last time they had come, Vish recalled how they insisted on joining him during his regular morning and evening walks. They clung to his arms on either side and every passer by would pause to admire them chattering away in their accented kiddish banter.
‘Gran’pa, Gran’pa look at the three tyred rickshaw, look there is the doggie which chased us yesterday!’ As he remembered their little conversations, he chuckled the same way he did way back then at their amazement and pleasure at every little thing that caught their attention. Oh how he missed those little hands around his neck.
He stopped at his regular pan shop and bought a special sweet paan. After all a special day calls for a special paan. As he sat waiting for the paan wala to prepare the paan, he once again took his mobile out to see if there was a call. He wiped it clean and remembered how his son Arjun got quite upset when he referred to the phone as a mobile phone and not the iPhone. ‘Papa, that’s an iPhone6 that I got you from the US and many aspire to own one. I got this thinking you would appreciate it!’
His son had travelled alone to meet him a few months back on an official visit to India. Unlike his daughter who made it atleast once in 2 years, his son forever had only one excuse. ‘Not this year but I promise I will be there next!’ It’s been 5 years now and he had met his grandson when he was few months old and not after that. Everytime he heard the little voice say ‘Gampa’, his heart skipped a beat. How he wished he could play with that little kid and tell him the many tales his grandmother told him when he was a kid. The same stories he told his children while they grew up.
Jaya and him were very clear that his children should be exposed to their roots and nothing like a bed time tale to bring them upto speed on the different hues of Indian culture and mythology. So much so that their daughter was named Krishnaa and their son Arjun! And when they both chose to settle abroad, Jay and Vish secretly hoped that they would change their minds and come back. They never did, not until now. He had been to visit them alongwith Jaya. Somehow, inspite of their insistence, they both wanted to get back to their roots. ‘Not at this age!’ was all they had to say.
A disappointed Vish, kept his phone back in the pouch and took the paan from the paanwala. The sweetness of the paan reminded him of one of those rare moments with Jaya when she asked him to buy one on the way back. A pleasantly surprised Vish, got not one but 10 paans for his wife who would rarely ask him for things. She was a contended woman and preferred to live on what was there and shied away from chasing the many extras that people otherwise indulged in. Jaya was speechless and as much as she wanted to rake up a fight with Vish, she noticed the joy in his eyes and simply chose to enjoy the paan and appreciate her husband’s choice. How some things can take you back to where you would have wanted to be forever. Vish touched a tear, took his glasses off and wiped his eyes. Not the right place he told himself. Having finished his paan, he walked back home.
It was close to lunch and he waited for his best friend Rishi who joined him every Sunday. Rishi loved Vish’s rice, daal and potato fry. Rishi and Vish go way back and had worked together for 40 years till they retired together. Rishi was about a month younger to him. Strangely while the two pals were like chalk and cheese, what kept them together all these days was their love for cricket and Madhubala movies. They had decided to watch the digitally coloured version for the umpteenth time. Rishi had not wished him on his birthday when he spoke over phone this morning.
‘Am sure, Rishi is waiting to wish me in person’, he thought to himself. And as he sat waiting for him, his iPhone rang to the tune of ‘Haal kaisa hai janaab ka’, Vish quickly answered the call to a strange voice which said ‘Happy birthday!’ Unable to recognise the voice but absolutely thrilled with someone greeting him, Vish quickly thanked the caller and asked her who it was. ‘Sir, I am calling from your bank and wanted to tell you that we have a special offer on credit card on your birthday…! An amused Vish thanked her and expressed his disinterest. And as he disconnected, the door bell rang. Vish walked over and greeted Rishi who went straight ahead to the dining table and helped himself with what was placed there.
As they sat watching and chatting away, recalling some of those earlier times together, Rishi suddenly told him how lonely he was feeling ever since his wife had gone away to visit his son in Hyderabad. Rishi did not get along with his daughter-in-law and chose to stay back while his wife went ahead without him. ‘I can only imagine how you feel every other day especially the last five year since Jaya’s demise, Vish. Why don’t you just go and stay with one of your children? Am not sure what’s keeping you here!’
‘I don’t want to breathe my last in an alien country Rishi, I am simply lying in wait for my final breath. Somehow I still feel the presence of Jaya in this house and I don’t want to be away from her.’
Rishi ceremoniously hugged his friend and prepared to leave and Vish turned to him and asked, ‘Are you forgetting something Rishi?’
Rishi quickly checked his pockets to see if his mobile and wallet were in, checked his shirt pocket for his spectacles and told him, ‘Nope, have got all my stuff. See you soon Vish. Will call you tomorrow.’ And so he left an even more disappointed Vish glaring at the back of his friend as he walked away without wishing him.
Vish closed the door and switched on his TV to watch one of those evening serials on his regular channel. He went over to the table and got his mobile and checked again for a missed call. But neither was there an unknown number nor was there a call from his children. Vish watched serial after serial and when it was time for dinner, he ate the leftovers from lunch and prepared for bed. Surely it wasn’t a time zone lapse, Vish was sure his children did not think it important to wish him on his birthday. His 70th he thought called for atleast a telephonic greeting, he didn’t definitely ask for a birthday party.
He was neither on facebook or any of the social media sites that his children spoke about. The last time both Krishnaa and Arjun mentioned that these sites threw up automatic reminders on birthdays. Arjun had shown him his ‘timeline’ on his birthday which were filled with birthday greetings. Next time they are here, he surely would ask for opening his own account on any of these. Maybe then they would not forget.
As he lay down on his bed, he read through one page of the book that he had bought last week, a biography of Steve Job’s. After all, he now owned an iPhone, he thought, he might as well familiarise himself with the name behind the phone. He didn’t realise when he slept and suddenly woke up to the door bell ringing. He had left the lights on and quickly turned to the bed side clock to see it was 11.30 pm. He got up wondering who it could be at this hour and walked to the front door. He peered through the eye hole on the door but could not guess who it was. Since he had an extra grill door which was put up for security reasons, he went ahead and opened the door. And there was Krishnaa with her husband and kids and alongside was Arjun with his son and his wife. For a minute, Vish just stood looking for he could still not believe his eyes, until they all screamed, ‘Happy birthday!’
They made the rest of his day, well the half an hour that was left off the day, to be precise. But nevertheless, his special day turned out to be all the more special. A birthday is still a birthday and the only day that’s your very own to celebrate. Vish did not hold back the gushing tears, as three pair of small little hands hugged his legs and filled the air with ‘Grampa, Gran’pa, Gran’pa!’
–END–